


The Return of Heroes

by Kihonne



Series: The Facility [3]
Category: Lab Rats (TV 2012)
Genre: 5 Years Later, Alternate Universe, Angst, F/M, Spies & Secret Agents, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2020-01-06 01:21:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 32,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18378047
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kihonne/pseuds/Kihonne
Summary: 5 years after Maybank's attack on New York, everything has changed for our heroes. Some of them have been tasked to hunt down people with powers, while others chose to walk away from that fight. But both sides are keeping secrets, making it impossible to know who to trust. But when a new threat appears, can they join together once more to save the day?





	1. 5 Years Later

**Vivyanna's POV**

" _I'm Special Agent Graham." The man introduced himself. "I'd also like to offer you all job positions…"_

_Why did I have such a bad feeling about this?_

**FIVE YEARS LATER**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

I hummed quietly to myself as I entered the mall, a grocery bag in one hand. Though I generally hated when it was my turn to do the groceries, it did occasionally have its benefits. Especially when I wanted to avoid the guys. I love all of them, but some days I just needed a break from Marcus criticizing my boyfriend for every decision he made. I mean seriously, it was annoying. Not to mention, Bree was in an FML mood and I didn't want to hear the constant complaints about people and the world. I just wanted a day to myself.

So, shopping it was. I glanced at my list and headed straight for the nearest grocery store. Pulling the hood of my hoodie up, I walked in, grabbing a few loaves of bread off the rack. The amount of food we went through was crazy, but since there were so many of us under one roof, it made sense. Still, I tried to find some of the better prices in the store than get the expensive stuff. Though Bree did insist that I had to go expensive to get the good stuff.

I grabbed another two jars of peanut butter (there was a certain fifteen year old boy at home who liked to eat it by the spoonful), another carton of eggs, a couple of milk cartons, and a box of cereal before I headed down to the canned food section, glancing over my shoulder as I did so. Though the store seemed to be fairly empty, which made sense considering how late it was to be doing groceries, I still had the feeling that I was being watched. It was a constant feeling, and I knew I wasn't the only one who had it. I knew that the others were constantly on guard when outside our home, and considering our circumstances, it made sense.

It had been five years since the world found out that people with powers were real and within those five years, things had changed drastically for me and my friends. The world had been frightened and intrigued by us, naturally. But the government had felt that we were dangerous and that they needed to do something about it. So, they offered us jobs.

Jobs! I couldn't believe it when it happened, but it had actually happened. Their goal was to have a group of Specials (yeah, that's what they were calling people with powers now. Personally, I voted for mutants, but they claimed that title had already been taken) handle criminals with similar abilities. In theory, it was a decent idea, but nothing in life is ever really that simple. All they wanted was to be able to control us, and I didn't like being controlled. Maybank had tried that, Douglas had tried that, my father had tried that. I was free now, of them and everyone else who'd hurt me in the past and no one,  _no one,_ was ever going to be control me again. Unable to do what they wanted, or give them the control they obviously expected, I left, along with some of the people I trusted most. Which, after a long series of events, led to them now wanting to arrest me.

Okay, so maybe that's not exactly what happened. At first, they just wanted to bring me in to talk, but Graham started taking things to another level soon after. Specials started disappearing all over, never to be seen again. We tried to figure out what was happening to them, but the closest we came to that was a fifteen year old Special that we broke out of one of their bases. We could have just sat back and watched, and maybe we would have found out more, but I had the feeling that it wouldn't end well for the kid. And well, to be completely honest, he reminded me of someone I used to know.

Besides, he wasn't even a criminal. He was a kid, for god's sake, a good one too. Maybe he was a little too angry for his own good, but who was I to judge? And he'd never committed any crimes, which made him an innocent person. They had no reason to arrest him, and it wasn't right. Good intentions matter in this sort of thing, right? Well, if they don't, then I like being the bad girl. It's kinda fun, minus the whole living on the run kinda of thing.

But it wasn't like I was the only one who disagreed with them. I had friends, old and new, who stood by me and believed in what I had said. So maybe things weren't easy for us – living in one of Davenport Industries old warehouses, all of us having to look over our shoulders all the time, but I couldn't work for those people. It was fairly obvious that they were keeping things from us, and that there was definitely more to their plans than meets the eye. If only everyone had seen it my way – things might be different.

But hey, it wasn't all bad. I had my family of friends, a boyfriend, even a job as a mechanic downtown. I'd always like machines – Marcus often joked that it was why I put up with him so much – and they were much easier to deal with than most humans, so even though the pay was crap, I liked my job a lot.

I grabbed several cans off the shelf next, checking off things on my list. Ravioli, check. Soup, check. Beans – yuck – check. Adding a box of crackers, a bag of apples that would surely be gone by Friday, and a couple of chocolate bars as a treat, I headed over to the cash register.

"Is that all?" The guy at the cash, Kaven, asked. I nodded, pulling out my wallet. I glanced at the TV behind him as he checked the prices on the items. A regular news broadcast was on, but it was detailing the capture of another Special. This one was a young boy, maybe 17 years old. Alex's age, I noted with a pang. Kids like him being brought in? How could they possibly be considered criminals?

"That'll be 63.50, miss." The cashier replied. I nodded, handing him the cash just as a familiar face appeared on the screen.

"The Special was captured by our department's lead agent, Agent-" I walked out with my food before I could hear the name, not wanting to listen to this. The fact that the government could so easily turn us against each other was ridiculous. Years ago, back in that horrid Facility, the people with powers had banded together. We'd fought alongside each other, not against. We were allies united by a simple goal; survival. But now, with their new division, The Hunters, as we all called them, dedicated to taking down Specials, it was impossible for those with abilities to stay out of the fight forever. At least, that's what some of the others were saying.

Some Specials wanted to fight back, to show the government that they couldn't do this. A part of me wanted to join them, but another part of me, the more logical part, knew that it would be useless. We wouldn't be strong enough. The only thing we'd succeed in doing would be getting ourselves killed.

I finished up the groceries and stopped by the thrift store, grabbing a couple of extra shirts, then picking up a new movie at the video store. Marcus often worked night shifts, but because he didn't need to sleep as much as a regular human, his days were often boring with the rest of us working. I figured grabbing him something to do would result in him texting us all less while we're at work.

I headed down the street, my two bags in one hand and my phone in the other. It was a nice day out, actually. Hell, it was beautiful. Too beautiful, in my opinion. Everyone knew what today was. It was the 5th Anniversary of the Siege of New York. The only thing Maybank had ever accomplished was making his attack turn into a national discussion, but it was a pretty big deal. Why wouldn't it be, after all? I mean, it was exactly five years since the world found out about people with powers, five years since my life had any chance at being relatively normal. There would be a speech from the president, then The Hunters would send two of their agents to make a speech as well on how they were dealing with the Specials problem. It'd be on all channels tonight too, so there would be nothing to watch on TV. Damn…

I headed into our newest home, one of Davenport Industries old warehouses. It was Bree's idea, actually, to live in one of her father's old buildings. The company had shut shortly after Donald Davenport died, but a lot of the old buildings had never been torn down. Including the one we were currently squatting in. And I think it reminded her of the home she once had, before everything had gone so wrong.

It was a pretty cool place, if I do say so myself. We'd all spent hours upon hours making it habitable, making it seem like home. The place was massive too, so we had a lot to work with. Removable barriers were put up to give us some privacy, to the point where there was three bedrooms, a bathroom, and a kitchen/living room area. Couches, beds, appliances and a TV were bought with saved up money, we even got Wi-Fi.

"I'm back." I called loudly, walking into our kitchen area. There wasn't a table or anything, but since we always ate on the couch, it never bothered anybody. I dropped the groceries onto the floor, opening the fridge. A moment later, I heard the sound of someone going through the bags and I smirked. "Stay out of the peanut butter, Spin."

"But-" The boy protested, but I wasn't having it.

"No. You can have some after you've helped me put these away, but only then." I turned around to face the fifteen year old boy. He was rather short for his age, but lean like a runner. His brown hair, having needed a cut for a long time, fell into his face, almost covering his brown eyes. He sighed.

"Fine." He agreed sullenly, reaching for the bread bags. I chuckled lightly at his reluctance to help, having gotten used to it by now. It had only been a year since we managed to spring the kid from the convoy that was bringing him to the government's base, but he'd become like family since then. He didn't talk about his past much, even giving us a nickname instead of his actual name, but we knew better than to pry. Everyone was entitled to their secrets, after all.

"Hey, did you get cereal?" I glanced up as Bree walked in, Marcus not far behind. I smiled at my old friends, then showed Bree the cereal in answer.

"I also got this." I tossed Marcus the movie and he smirked, reading the title of it.

"RoboCop." He chuckled. "Why must you always get me robots based movies?"

"I thought you'd like them, being an android an all." I teased. He chuckled again, leaning against the wall as Spin, Bree, and I finished putting this week's groceries away. "By the way, it's your turn for groceries next time."

"Yeah, I know." Marcus agreed. He was quiet for a moment, then sighed. "So…"

"So…" Spin copied, smirking at the annoyed look the older boy gave him.

"What's up, honey?" Bree asked, leaning against the wall across from him.

"The memorial's tomorrow." Marcus sighed. "Are we going, or not?"

Right, the memorial. To be honest, I hadn't given it much thought. We'd gone every year since the Siege of New York, but the Hunters had really stepped up their game in the past few months. It might not be the best idea. "I don't know." I sighed. "I've been kinda busy with work, haven't really thought about it."

"But…" Marcus prompted.

"I don't want to." I admitted. Both he and Bree gave me stern looks, so I elaborated. "I'm sorry, but I don't want to stand there and listen to how the government's going to kill all of us Specials. It's annoying, stupid, and just plain depressing."

"Well I think we should." Bree told me, giving me a look. "My brother died five years ago. My father too. And S-1. This memorial isn't about Specials or Hunters. It's about honoring the people who gave their life during the attack."

"Well, do I have to go?" Spin asked, siding with me as per usual. "I didn't know any of them, and while I'm sure they were good people, I'd rather stay here and watch a movie."

"That's two against two." I teased Marcus and Bree, knowing they likely wouldn't go without everyone. "It's a tie."

"What's a tie?" The final member of our little group walked, running a hand through his slightly spiky hair before wrapping his arms around my waist. "What argument do I have to settle now?"

"It's not an argument, Sebastian." I replied, kissing him. "It's just a discussion."

Sebastian had joined our group a couple of years ago. He'd been on the run from the Hunters, like we'd all been, and had fit in perfectly with our group of renegades. He joked around with Bree, debated random topics with Marcus, helped Spin learn to use his rapid gyration powers (or super-spin, as the kid liked to call it) and had flirted with me. And somewhere along the way, that flirting had turned into an actual, steady relationship.

"A discussion about what?" Sebastian asked, looking at us.

"Whether or not we're going to the memorial." Marcus replied. Sebastian frowned.

"Of course we're going." He replied, as if it were obvious.

"Ha!" Bree laughed, smirking at me. I flipped her off and turned to my boyfriend.

"I don't want to go." I told him. He rolled his eyes.

"I know, but we need to." He reminded me. "If the Hunters have any new plans, we need to hear about them. Besides, if we don't go, Marcus and Bree are going to complain for the rest of the week and I am not putting up with that."

"That is true." Marcus agreed, grabbing an apple and heading back towards the couch, Bree following him.

"Seb…" I complained softly. He knew my reasons for not wanting to go.

"Hey." He smiled charmingly at me. "How bad can it be?"


	2. Hunters

**Chase's POV**

**MANHATTEN, NEW YORK STATE**

_God, I hate working Saturdays._  I thought to myself as I walked past the security guard, Frank, and into the main building. Usually, I would have the weekends off and I'd spend them hanging out with my friends, but because of the 5 year anniversary memorial, it was mandatory for all Hunters to be present to receive instructions from Special Agent Graham.

5 years…it was incredible how much had changed since then. Five years ago, we were in high school, trying to live normal lives. And now here we were, some of the government's top agents. Hunters, they called us, because we 'hunted' criminals with powers. We'd done a lot of good over the years, stopping criminals and terrorists alike from hurting innocent people. I couldn't believe the nerve some of those Specials had, thinking they were better than regular people just because they had powers. So many people misused their abilities for their own needs instead of being responsible with them…I was almost ashamed to have powers like them. Almost. Because there were some of us who did use our powers for the good of others, some of us who weren't greedy or cruel with them. And we were proud to use our abilities to help people. In the end, we were the good guys.

Speaking of which…

"You're late." I glanced up to see Roxanna walking towards me, a file in her hands. Her hair was swept over one shoulder as per usual, her brown eyes flashing with annoyance.

"I overslept. It was an accident." I apologized, taking the file from her. She rolled her eyes.

"Liar." She accused. "But it's okay. I'm pretty sure Graham's the only one who came in on time today."

"Well, we all love our weekends." I chuckled, opening the file. "What's this? Another Special we need to capture?"

There had been a lot of Special activity over the past few weeks, so it wouldn't surprise me. But to my genuine surprise, Roxanna shook her head. "Break-in at a military base in California."

"What?" I stared at her for a moment, then looked at the file. There wasn't much in there, and very few details. It mainly focused on the injured soldiers, at least eight by the looks of it, but none of them were killed. Thank God for that. "Alright, that's not good, but how is this our kinda problem? Why not push this off onto another division?"

"Don't know – Graham said he was going to talk to us about it when everyone gets here." Roxanna shrugged. "But my guess is that some Specials were involved."

I nodded. "Makes sense." I agreed. "So, where is everyone?"

"Graham's office. We were just waiting on you." She replied as we walked through the halls towards Special Agent Graham's office. We didn't bother knocking before entering, knowing that they were already waiting for us.

Graham was behind his desk, speaking on the phone with someone. "I don't care how much you have to use, just get it done. Got it?" He was saying in clear frustration.

"He's been on the phone for a while." A voice came from beside me. Alex was sitting in the chair next to me, tapping his foot against the ground impatiently. At seventeen, he now stood a couple of inches taller than me, but he was still fairly skinny. His hair was long, hanging past his ears, almost looking as if he'd just gotten out of bed. He was dressed in jeans and a black t-shirt, and he looked bored out of his mind.

"Would you rather be in school right now?" I teased. He rolled his eyes.

"Please, it's a Saturday. I should be in bed, sleeping." He rolled his eyes.

"Dude, we'd have woken you up by now, and you know it." Leo retorted from his spot against the wall. He leaned there, dressed in his usual work attire – black pants and a black jacket with one arm coloured red. He'd had it designed special after Marcus and I had designed a bionic arm for him after his had been forced to be amputated. At first, he'd been upset and had grieved the loss of his original arm, but now he was proud of the new limb and all the abilities it gave him.

"You guys suck." Alex rolled his eyes. Rhyder chuckled.

"Yeah, we know." He agreed, running a hand through his short brown hair. Rhyder hadn't changed much over the years, despite everything, though he had lost some of the spark he once had. He had once been so carefree, but now he was overly cautious, so careful with his decisions. Perhaps it was a good thing, but I did miss the older Rhyder at times.

"Sorry about that." Graham apologized, hanging up the phone. "Remind me again why I thought it was a good idea to hire that Perry woman?"

"You said, and I quote 'she had skills that would be useful to you'." Rhyder replied, examining his fingernails with a bored look on his face.

"So, what's the plan for the memorial?" Alex asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"And what's this about a military base being broken into?" I added. Leo and Alex looked at me in surprise. Oh, I guess not everyone had heard then.

"Yes. Well…first off, I'd like to congratulate you on your last Special capture." Graham began. I nodded in appreciation, though I was still conflicted about that. It had been an eighteen year old kid named Bob Jones. I didn't like taking young people in, but according to the files that Graham had given us, he'd been using super strength and levitation abilities to shoplift. Removing his powers, as we did with every Special that we took in, was the right thing to do, surely.

"Second on all, for those of you who haven't read the file," he gave Alex and Leo harsh look. They never read the files ahead of time, instead relying on Roxanna, Rhyder, and I to inform them of the situation, "there was a break-in at a military base in Mission Creek, California."

"Mission Creek?" Leo and I echoed. I hadn't gotten to that part then. Graham nodded.

"Yes, Mission Creek." He replied, brushing off our surprise. "At least three Specials were involved, including our favourite mystery man."

"I'm sorry, did I miss something? What mystery man?" Alex looked confused.

"Remember that Special that keeps appearing throughout California, breaking Specials out of custody and stealing serious amounts of technology?" Roxanna reminded the boy. Because he was still a minor, and in high school, Alex was often left out of some of the smaller, less important missions, and until now, this mystery man was considered less important than other missions.

"Right, carry on." Alex nodded at Graham.

"Right, well he and his friends stole explosives. High-grade ones, mainly." Our boss informed us, handing me a sheet with the details on the types of explosives. "We don't know what their plan is for them, but they need to be returned ASAP."

"You want me to take a team out there?" I asked, suspecting that's what he wanted to talk to us about. Graham nodded slowly.

"Yes, all of you will go to Mission Creek. We need to find this Special once and for all, before he kills someone." He declared. "But first, there's the matter of the memorial to deal with."

"Does that not take lesser priority than a fugitive armed with deadly explosives?" Leo questioned, standing up straight. Graham nodded.

"Of course he does, but maintaining our public image is also vital, especially if it means diminishing the hopes of any Specials considering joining him. Keeping the Specials afraid, keeping them out of trouble will help us greatly in the long run." Graham replied. "Dooley, Mathews, Johnson, I want you three to stay here and prep for your mission." Leo, Rhyder, and Alex nodded. "Davenport, Krane, you two will represent our division at the memorial. I hope your speech is ready."

"It is, sir." I replied, having expected that I would be put in charge of the memorial. I was always put in charge of it, after all.

"Good. You're all dismissed." Graham waved us off, reaching for the phone. We exited his office, heading towards the cafeteria where we usual hung around when we discussed the job.

"Should we go ahead to California, or stay here in New York with you guys?" Rhyder asked, sitting down at our usual table.

"Nah, wait for us. We'll take the plane down together." I decided. Roxanna smirked.

"Besides you guys will probably kill each other out of boredom before we get there." She teased.

"Nah, Leo can show us the sights." Alex joked. He looked at Leo and I. "You guys used to live there, right?"

"Yeah, we did." I agreed absently, remembering all the good times I had down there with Adam, Leo, and Bree. I frowned, wishing, not for the first time, that I had my brother and sister here with me. But Adam was dead and Bree had left with Vivyanna and Marcus a few years ago, so I knew there was no possibility of that happening.

Why did they have to leave? Why did they have to so stubbornly believe that what we were doing wasn't good? We were saving people from the bad guys, something Bree and I had been doing our whole lives. Marcus, it was understandable how he could switch sides. He'd been a bad guy far longer than he'd been good. And Vivyanna, she was always so stubborn and angry that maybe saving people just wasn't her thing. Once, I had thought it was. I mean, she helped save New York. But she had proven me wrong the day she left, slamming that door behind her.

"Chase." I looked up, startled out of my thoughts by Roxanna. She gave me a sympathetic look, knowing exactly what I was thinking of. "I said, what time should we leave for the memorial? We need to be in Manhattan by seven, remember?"

"After dinner." I assured her before looking at the rest of my time. Stay in the present, I thought to myself. Don't dwell on the past, because there's no going back to it. "Alright, I want the usual mission stuff brought. Comm links, mission suits, and a few days worth of spare clothing. We could be there for a couple of weeks.

"Does that mean I get to miss school?" Alex grinned, already knowing what the answer was. I nodded.

"Yeah, I'll call ahead for you, get your teachers to send me a copy of your homework so you can do it on the plane." His face fell at that.

"Damn it, Chase. Why do you have to be a fun-killer?" He complained.

"That's my job, kid." I retorted lightly. "Anyway, Leo, I want you to give Rhyder and Alex a rundown on the basics of Mission Creek. Look at a map, show them the important sites, and book a hotel for us, got it?"

"Got it." Leo didn't even question why I didn't want to just use our old house as base. Be both knew that it held too many memories for us both.

"Alright. Let's get this over with." I sighed, thinking about the memorial later that day. Something told me that the 5th anniversary was going to be a special one.


	3. The Memorial

**Vivyanna's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"I can't believe you dragged me here." I complained under my breath as Sebastian led me through the crowd. As the memorial was in New York, most people couldn't attend. But every news channel would be playing a rerun of it throughout the day, so Mission Creek, like most places, decided to broadcast it in public. This year, it was being broadcast at the school, on a giant white curtain that was tied up over the gym's outer wall. "Seriously, Seb. I don't want to be here."

"I know you don't." He assured me, a smirk on face. "But you need to be."

"Yeah, I know." I sighed angrily. I'd rather be anywhere else, far away from the bad memories and reality itself. I'd rather just pretend that I had a normal life without powers, without the Hunters, without all the crap in my life. But he was right. Adam had been killed because he had tried to protect Rhyder. Davenport had been killed because he was trying to save lives. S-1 had been killed because she wanted a chance at freedom. They'd all fought and died for some of the most pure motives that have ever existed– family, survival, and freedom. It would be wrong not to honour their deaths. They more than earned that respect.

"Hey." I looked at Sebastian suddenly, remembering what I'd wanted to talk to him about earlier. "Where were you last night?"

"Huh?" Sebastian looked at me, confused. I gave him a look.

"You didn't come home last night. I wasn't sure what happened to you.." I reminded him. He chuckled guiltily.

"Sorry about that." He apologized, rubbing the back of his head. "Tank had a fight with his girlfriend and needed to blow off some steam, so we had a few drinks at that bar he likes in Welkerville. We decided that neither of us was sober enough to drive, so we crashed at a hotel. I should have called."

"No, it's fine. I'm glad you weren't driving." I replied, shrugging. "I just thought…you know, with the Hunters being so…"

"I should have called." Sebastian cut me off, stroking my face gently. "Next time, I will."

"Thank you." I smiled at him. Suddenly, a picture appeared on the white screen, showing a large stage in front of the Empire State Building. "Let's get this over with."

**Roxanna's POV**

**MANHATTEN, NEW YORK**

"I hate speeches." Chase grumbled under his breath. I laughed lightly, adjusting the sleeves of my jacket. Although I was never one for a uniform, I did like that our mission suits were black leather.

"I know. Just get through this, then we can get out of here and hunt down that terrorist of a Special. Alright?" He smirked at my optimistic tone.

"You act as if it'll be easy." He replied. I sighed.

"Why can't it be easy this time?" I asked. "Every time, there's some sort of complication. Alex can't make it because of school, the guy's got friends, someone gets hurt. Why can't it be totally uncomplicated this time?"

"Here's hoping." Chase replied with a small smile. He looked at the stage where the opening ceremonies were beginning. It wasn't much – just a video of the wreckage, then Graham would list the names of those who had died in the battle. Neither Adam nor S-1 would be among them – Adam had died too early for them to count and as far as the world was concerned, S-1 was just another soldier fighting against us.

"Do you think they'd be proud of us?" I murmured suddenly. Chase frowned.

"Who?" He asked, baffled.

"Adam, Mr. Davenport, S-1…hell, even Mira. Would they be proud of us for hunting down Specials?" I asked, not looking at him. "I know we're just taking away their powers and that we're stopping bad guys, but…I don't know. Would they really approve of us being soldiers?"

"We're not soldiers, Roxanna." Chase shook his head. "We're heroes, just like they wanted us to be. If we didn't do what we did, there'd be hundreds of Specials out there, hurting people, stealing, worse. We're saving lives by doing what we're doing."

"Yeah, I know." I agreed softly.

"Hey." He grabbed me by the shoulders. Not roughly, but enough that I knew he was serious. "You're not thinking of following Vivyanna's road, right? Because she's on our list of people to capture, as are Marcus and Bree. They shouldn't have left."

"I know." I agreed. "We should have stuck together. They should be here, helping us. I was just thinking that if Adam, Mr. Davenport, S-1, and Mira were alive, things might be different."

"But they're not." Chase retorted. "And we're doing this because of them. So that nothing like that ever happens again."

"Agreed." I nodded. I noticed that Graham's speech was almost done. "You're up."

Chase nodded, heading for the stage. I knew that he was fully committed to his job and that he felt that taking down Specials and removing their powers was his way of honouring his fallen family, but sometimes I wondered…could all these Specials really be as bad as we made them out to be?

**Vivyanna's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"There's Chase." Bree muttered from beside us. I hummed in response as Chase walked onto the stage. They were in New York, obviously, in front of the Empire State Building. It was funny – the entire time I spent in New York, I'd never visited the Empire State Building. Chase and I had planned to, but…

"It's starting." Marcus dragged me out of my thoughts. I glanced at him and Bree. He was hugging her from behind, his head resting on her shoulder. I couldn't help but smile – despite everything we'd been through in the past years, they were still together. Good for them.

I looked back at the screen just as Chase began to speak.

" _Five years ago, New York suffered a tragedy never seen before in history. It wasn't a tragedy caused by nature, nor was it a tragedy caused by humans. No, it was caused by something much more dangerous than the human being. New York was attacked by these…people with special abilities that no one could have ever imagined to be real."_  He began strong, looking out at the crowd.  _"It was attacked by these Specials who thought that they had more rights to this city than everyone else. Because of their greed, many lives were lost. Many of us lost loved ones, myself included."_

I glanced at Bree, but she refused to meet anyone's gazes. Adam's death had hurt both her and Chase hard, and while neither of them would ever forget him, or stop feeling the pain of his loss, Chase used his grief to fuel his hatred of those with powers.

" _A group of us fought against this threat, and we won. Now, my team and I have dedicated ourselves to prevent such a tragedy from ever happening again."_  Well, some of the group, anyway. While neither Leo, Rhyder, nor Alex was present, I could easily see my sister standing near the back of the stage.  _"No Special will ever even think of trying something like that again. Having powers like that doesn't give you more of a right to live than those who don't. Rest assured that criminal acts done by Specials will not be tolerated."_

"Hypocrites." Sebastian hissed angrily. I tightened my grip on his hand, leaning closer to him for comfort.

" _And if any Specials are listening to this memorial right now, give yourselves up. I can assure you, any one of you who comes quietly, anyone who chooses to do the right thing, will not be harmed."_  Chase finished. Ha! That was a lie, whether he knew it or not.  _"But if you think that you're above everyone else because of your powers, you're wrong."_

"What bullshit." Sebastian grumbled as another person from New York, the mayor I think, started to speak. Nobody was really interested in that part – most people just came to hear the names of the dead and the part about us Specials.

"C'mon." Bree sighed, pulling Sebastian and I out of the main crowd. Spin and Marcus followed us, glancing over their shoulders to make sure no one noticed us leaving. Not that anyone would really care if we did.

"Well, that was boring." Spin complained as we reached the outskirts of the town hall.

"Rest assured that criminal acts done by Specials will not be tolerated." Sebastian mimicked angrily. "What utter bullshit."

"Sebastian-" I began, trying to calm him down before he caused a scene.

"I'm serious. They say things like that, but all they do is kidnap innocent people and kill the ones who try to run."

"They don't kill everyone." Bree told him. Sebastian gave her a look.

"Tell that to my father." He growled. I stepped in front of him, rubbing his arm.

"Look. I know, you're angry about what happened to your father, Sebastian, but I'm sure they didn't mean to kill him." Though I seriously didn't like the Hunters, I knew for a fact that Sebastian's father wasn't killed on purpose. I didn't like keeping secrets from Sebastian – he was so open with me about everything – but in truth, I had been there the day his father had been killed. And I knew, without a doubt, that it had been an accident.

"What about the kidnappings?" Spin retorted. "They tried to kidnap me. And they would have succeeded if it hadn't been for you guys. What gives them the right?"

"Oh, they have no right to do that, or anything else they've been doing." I agreed with the kid. "But there's no point in accusing them of cold-blooded murder when we can't prove that it wasn't an accident."

"Vivy…Vivyanna," Marcus corrected himself at the sight of my glare, "is right. And it's not like we can do anything about it."

"Unless we join that rebellion." Spin grumbled. Bree looked at him like he was crazy.

"That rebellion?" We'd all heard the rumours. A new Anti-Hunters Rebellion was forming to end the fight once and for all.

"Spin, the only thing that rebellion is going to do is get you killed." Marcus told him. "Joining them would be suicide."

"But-" Spin began to retort, but I cut him off.

"Honestly, from what I've heard, they sound like a bunch of idiots trying to cause trouble. The Hunters will be after them before too long." I told him. "I don't want to get caught up in any of that."

"Fine." Spin grumbled. "I won't bring it up again."

"Hey, chin up, Spin." Sebastian patted the kid's shoulder. "Things will get better."

I nodded encouragingly, hoping that Sebastian was right. "Now, I don't know about you guys, but I'm hungry."

"Yeah, me too. Dinner at that Mexican place you love?" Sebastian suggested. I grinned, nodding. "Bree, Marcus, Spin, you guys coming?"

Spin shook his head. "Nah, there's this girl at the arcade. Her name's Kate and her shift is supposed to start soon."

"Good luck with that." Marcus joked as Spin walked away, heading towards the arcade. Bree elbowed him.

"I was thinking of going home and watching a movie." She replied. Marcus nodded.

"Me too. I have the night off because of the memorial, so I'm going to be taking advantage of it." He replied. He nodded at us. "See you guys later?"

"Yeah, okay." I smiled at them as Sebastian led us away. I glanced at him, noticing how his jaw was still clenched. "Hey, are you okay?" I asked, assuming he was still mad about Chase's speech. He smiled at me, brushing some hair from my face.

"Perfect." He replied.


	4. Going Home

**Leo's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"Home sweet home." I mused, stepping off the plane. It'd been a long flight from New York, one that took most of the day, and I was finally glad to be off the plane. Even if it meant coming back home.

I hadn't come to Mission Creek since Maybank's goons had kidnapped Adam, Bree, and Chase all those years ago. I had left along with my mom and Mr. Davenport, knowing that there would be no coming back here. I never intended to return, but here I was.

"It's nice here." Roxy mentioned, standing next to me, her bag held over her shoulder. "A little warm for my liking, but nice."

"Well, not all of us are cryokinetics, Ice Queen." I joked. She laughed lightly, smiling. "Seriously though, you don't like the heat?"

"Nah. California's never been my dream home." She shrugged. "My mom though…she was born here. Not here here, but somewhere in California."

"Really?" I looked at her, surprised. She nodded.

"Yeah. Vivy always wanted to move out here. Said she'd take up surfing." Roxanna sighed sadly. I nodded in understanding. With the whole 5 year anniversary thing, everyone was remembering the old days. Before Vivyanna, Bree, and Marcus left. Before Adam, Mr. Davenport, and S-1 died. Before we moved to New York. Those few months we had between leaving the Facility and Maybank's attack on the city were the happiest any of us ever had.

Not that things weren't happy now. Though our group had shrunk in the past years, we were all still okay. Alex was enjoying his last year in high school, Chase was mission leader of a government division, Roxy was his second in command, I was dating the girl of my dreams, and it had been ages since Rhyder had a apocalyptic vision. So things were good.

"C'mon guys." Chase started walking towards the exit of the airport. "We should get to the hotel room."

"He's in a bad mood." Alex commented, walking up behind us even as Rhyder ran to catch up with Chase.

"Yeah, well he didn't want to come back here." I shrugged, not exactly blaming him. "Not to mention, the memorial this morning."

"Right. We're not going to have to watch the rerun, are we? Aren't they playing it somewhere in town tonight?" Alex groaned.

"Don't worry – we'll probably be too busy to see any of it." Watching the memorial the first time was hard, let alone a second time. "C'mon. Before Chase blows a gasket."

The hotel wasn't far from the hotel, but it was long enough that I did get the chance to show Roxy some of the sights. The mall, the school I went to, even my favorite restaurant. She seemed to enjoy it, grinning at the sight of the restaurant. She always did like Mexican food.

"Alright, so what's the plan?" Alex asked as we settled in. We were sharing rooms, sorta. Chase and Rhyder got one room, while Roxy, Alex, and I got the other. So, as per usual, I was on the couch. I didn't mind much – some of these hotel couches were pretty comfortable.

"Rhyder and I will go to the military base and talk to the commander there." Chase decided. "Leo and Roxanna, I want you to go around town, check it out. Stop at the sheriff's office, see if there's been any kind of commotion."

"What kind of commotion?" Roxy questioned, frowning.

"Break-ins, thefts, any suspicious activity what-so-ever. Anything that would have happened over the past 10 months, because that's when the attacks started happening." Chase explained.

"We're on it." I assured him. Alex frowned.

"What about me?" He asked. Chase smirked.

"Go to the mall, talk to some of the people your age." Chase advised. "I've learned from experience that teenagers tend to hear some of the more juicy stuff."

"Juicy stuff?" Alex repeated. Roxy nodded.

"Yeah. If there's been any weird strangers in town, and if anyone's got some 'special talents'. Adults that support Specials are usually have some pretty tight lips about it, but kids tend to let some things slip, especially when they're hanging with their friends." She explained. Alex nodded.

"Sounds fun." He agreed. Chase nodded.

"I want everyone back here by 1900 hours, alright?" He confirmed. "Alright, get to work."

**Roxanna's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"So, what have we got?" I asked, walking down the street with Leo.

"Um, a few break-ins, a few instances of shop-lifting, but nothing that seems truly noteworthy." He sighed, going through the papers we'd collected. There wasn't much there, and we could have memorized it easy, but we figured that Chase would appreciate the hard copies. "As for the town, it seems like most of the residents have been here a while, nothing to suggest that they're Specials. And if they are, they're pretty damn good at hiding it."

"Yeah, I know." I grumbled. The entire day had been a waste, on our end at least. The police station had no information for us, nor did any of the citizens that we spoke to. I glanced at my watch. "Chase wants us back at the hotel in an hour." I mentioned.

"Great. Then we have time to grab some dinner." Leo grinned, leading me down a different street. I could see that Mexican place we passed on our way down to the hotel. I gave him a look.

"We could just grab a bite at the hotel. Room service and all." I replied. He shook his head.

"No, we're going out to eat. Like normal people do." He insisted, not slowing down in the slightest.

"We're in the middle of a job, Leo!" I exclaimed in exasperation. "And you want us to…to go on a date?"

"We've done it before." He pointed out. I sighed.

"Yeah, but…" Even I knew I didn't have a defense against that. And besides, it had been a while since we got to sit down and have dinner. "Fine, a quick bite."

"Awesome." Leo grinned, taking my hand and pulling me towards the building.

"You know, your brother is going to kill us if he finds out we're doing this." I complained as we entered the restaurant.

"If he finds out we're taking a break, or if he finds out we're dating?" Leo questioned, nodding at the waitress as we sat down at a booth. She handed us menus and walked away to help another customer.

"Both." I replied. Ever since the others left, Chase had considered relationships a distraction, had considered the entire dating thing too emotional to bother with. Now, he never told us we couldn't date. He would never actually forbid it, but we all tended to keep our relationships hidden, just to avoid any confrontations about it. We didn't want to get lectured on how this would affect our working relationship and such. Not to mention, if the guys found out that Leo and I were actually going out, we'd never hear the end of it. I was pretty sure that Alex had been making bets with Rhyder as to when I would finally say yes to Leo and I didn't want to give him the satisfaction. I was surprised how long we'd been able to keep this a secret for, though.

"Yeah, he's probably lose it. But we'll have to tell him eventually, if this ever becomes…" Leo broke off. I chuckled.

"If this ever becomes serious, you mean?" I laughed lightly. "It's been a year, Leo. Consider that I've never had a relationship last more than three months, yeah I think it's serious."

"Roxy." Leo said.

"Look, if you don't want to tell Chase, I'm cool with it." I assured him. "But-"

"Roxy." He interrupted me. I frowned, confused.

"What?" I asked, realizing that he was no longer looking at me. He nodded at something behind me and I slowly turned around to get a glimpse of what was going on. At first, I didn't see it – there were so many people in the restaurant, it was hard to pick one out. Then I caught sight of her.

Vivyanna.

**Rhyder's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"That was interesting." I commented, looking over the files the military officer had handed us. Chase and I were sitting in our hotel room, going through the files while we waited for Alex, Leo, and Roxanna to show up.

"Yeah. Who could steal that many explosives and not get caught until morning?" Chase shook his head. "I swear, the security in some of these places…"

"Hey, it's hard to be completely secure against Specials. We of all people should know that." I commented, going through the security photos. Those thieves had almost gotten away completely unseen too. All we had was a blurry picture containing two different people. It was blurry and hard to make out, but one, presumably a woman, had long black hair and the other, a man with short brown hair and a square-ish shaped head. "I have no idea who these guys are."

"I know." Chase shook his head and sighed. "And the way they got in there, freaky much."

"Wait, how'd they get in there?" I looked at him. He raised an eyebrow. "Dude, not everyone can absorb information as fast as you can."

"It was like…the door melted in front of them, then turned back into steel the second they were outside again." He shook his head, sighing. "I've never seen anything like it."

"Hell, I don't even think comic book villains can do crap like that." I agreed, wincing. Damn, all this work was giving me a head ache.

"Well, I hope Alex, Leo, and Roxanna got something useful." Chase grumbled, sitting back on his bed. I began to pace, hoping that physical movement would distract me from the pain in my head.

"Even if they didn't, the photo's still helpful. Now we have a vague idea of what some of them look like, and we know at least one of them can melt things…then un-melt them." I commented, rubbing my temples.

"There's got to be a better term for that…" Chase commented. I chuckled, glancing at him before walking to the other side of the room.

"You're the super genius. Anyway, they should be back-" I broke off, gasping as a my vision changed. Damn it, I should have known my headaches were leading to a vision. They always did.

_Alex sat on the ground, staring upwards in absolute horror. The kid was injured, cradling his arm with a bloody gash on his forehead. Someone stood above him, someone dangerous but unseen._

_Then I saw myself, lying on the ground, unconscious or worse, with Roxanna standing above me. She was breathing and shaking badly from the effort of standing, looking like she'd just been through hell and back twice. She was facing off against a dark haired girl, someone I'd never seen before._

_Then there was Vivyanna, standing tall with her head held high. There was pain in her eyes, but conviction as she raised her hand, flames sparking off it. "I can't believe I ever loved you." She whispered, her voice quiet but steady. Then, she threw the fire ball, igniting an unidentified person standing in front of her._

I gasped, my eyes fluttering open. I was on the ground, my head hurting much more than before, and Chase kneeling above me. But all I could think about was those images, those terrible images.  _God, Vivyanna. What did you do?_


	5. Plans

**Leo's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"Is it that Vivyanna?" I demanded, staring at the girl across the restaurant. I couldn't believe my eyes, but there she was. She was sitting at another booth, across from a brown haired guy whom was laughing at some joke she made. Vivyanna was smiling, one hand supporting her head while the other picked at a plate of nachos. "Roxy?"

"Holy shit." Roxy shook her head, eyes wide. "I mean…it's been nearly four years since she left. And we see her here, today?"

"What are the odds?" I questioned, still staring. Suddenly, something occurred to me. Vivyanna was a rogue Special. Graham had made it clear that she, Bree, and Marcus were on the 'capture' list. If he was here, he'd be ordering us to grab her. Her friend too, just to be sure. "Roxy…"

"No." She looked at me, eyes wide. Damn, that girl could pull off those puppy-dog eyes. "Please Leo, no."

"We have orders." I reminded her. She nodded.

"I-I know, but…but it's Vivyanna, Leo." She pleaded. "She's my sister and she's…she's happy. Just look at her."

Vivyanna did seem to be enjoying herself. I hadn't seen her that happy since before Graham hired us.

"I don't know…" I trailed off, conflicted. There was a time when Vivyanna and I were allies, hell, friends even.

"Leo…please. We both know that she's not doing any harm." Roxanna pleaded. I sighed.

"Fine. But if anything suspicious happens, and I mean anything, I'm telling Chase she's here." I warned her. She nodded.

"Agreed." She replied eagerly, obviously thinking that Vivyanna would stay out of all this. And she might, but…I couldn't help but feel a little concerned about this. We were tracking a Special who stole military level explosives, and Vivyanna, a Special known for hating Hunters, was in the same town? What were the odds? I pleaded with whatever higher power there was that she was uninvolved with this, for both the sisters' sakes.

**Chase's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"Rhyder?" I helped my friend sit up, knowing he'd still be a little out of it. "Was it a vision?"

He nodded stiffly, blinking rapidly as he tried to regain his focus. I let him take his time, waiting patiently for him to go back to normal. Eventually, he nodded again. "Yeah, it was a vision."

"Alright, c'mon." I grabbed his bicep, pulling him to his feet. He sat down on the bed immediately, rubbing his temples. "Was is a bad one?"

"You have no idea." He shook his head. I grabbed a glass of water off the desk and handed it to him, sitting down across from him.

"You want to talk about it?" I asked. He sighed.

"We should wait for everyone to get back." He muttered before downing his drink. "But dude…"

"Alright, relax." I patted his shoulder, then stood up. This wasn't good. Rhyder had had a number of visions over the years, but none of them had shaken him up this bad. Not since New York.

"I'm back." Alex announced, walking in. "Leo and Roxanna are too – they just got stuck taking a different elevator."

We both looked at him and he stopped, confused. "What?"

"Rhyder had a vision." I explained shortly.

"About what?" Roxanna asked as she and Leo walked in. I shrugged, giving Rhyder the chance to speak.

"We were fighting someone, I think. I couldn't see who, but…" He trailed off.

"But what?" I questioned, looking at the psychic expectantly. He sighed.

"Alright, so I saw Alex first. He was hurt and facing off against someone about his height, maybe a little shorter. He was on the ground, facing up towards them." Rhyder began. "They Roxanna and I. I was down, unconscious, I think. But Roxanna was still fighting. It was a dark haired girl, like the one the security cameras at the military base caught sight of."

"Let me see that." Roxanna grabbed the photos out of the file, looking them over.

"And then…" Rhyder hesitated. I frowned.

"What?" I asked, looking at him.

"Vivyanna." Rhyder finally admitted. "She was there. I think she killed someone."

"What?" Roxanna looked at him, startled. I looked at Rhyder, surprised.

"Elaborate. Now." I ordered.

"She was fighting someone and she was angry. Furious, actually. She said, uh…something along the lines of 'I can't believe I was in love with you' or something similar. Then she set them on fire." He explained with a shrug.

"Well someone's gone off the deep end." Alex commented, glaring at the older Hunter. "And I'm not talking about Vivy."

"Hey!" Rhyder looked at him, offended.

"C'mon Rhyder. It's Vivyanna. Our Vivyanna." Alex insisted. "Why would she kill anyone? Hell, we don't even know where she is."

"Actually…" Leo trailed off, looking at Roxanna. She gave him a glare, but it was too late.

"What are you hiding?" I questioned. Roxanna sighed. "Roxanna."

"We saw her. My sister that is. We saw her today." She admitted.

"When?" Rhyder demanded, staring at her.

"About an hour ago. She was having dinner with some guy." She glanced at the photo. "Some guy who looks very similar to this photograph."

"It's the guy in the photo? You're sure?" I questioned, needing to know the facts.

"Not one hundred percent. I mean, the photo's blurry and we only got a glimpse of the guy, but they look similar, that's for sure."

"That doesn't prove anything." Alex retorted. "So she lives here. And so she's dating a guy who may be a criminal. But she's not a killer. No way."

I wasn't all that surprised to see the kid defending her. He and Vivyanna had always had a special bond, one that hadn't diminished even after she left. "Chase, we don't have proof she's involved in any of this. Can't we keep her out of it?" He pleaded with me, giving me puppy dog eyes.

"No, we really can't. I'm sorry." Graham would have my head if I even considered it. "But, Alex has a point. She's no killer."

"You're kidding me, right?" Rhyder stared at me. "Look, I like Vivyanna as much as the next guy. And I get that she was one of our friends once. But she chose to leave. It wasn't like she didn't know what she was getting herself into. She chose to become one of the Specials we hunted."

"I understand that, Rhyder." I sighed. Damn it, Vivyanna. I had hoped, along with Roxanna, Alex, Leo, and even Rhyder, that we would never see her again. Not because I didn't want to see her, but because I knew how difficult this decision would be. I knew that I'd be forced to drag her back into all of this, and that was something I had hoped to avoid.

"Really? Because it sounds you're going to give her a free pass because you used to be into her." He retorted.

"Shut the hell up, Mathews." I growled. He stopped at the sound of his last name. "She is not getting a free pass. But consider how she did for this country when she was a Hunter and before that, I am willing to give her the benefit of the doubt. I don't think she's capable of cold-blooded murder." I knew exactly what Vivyanna was capable of. I'd seen her in action. And she'd killed before, albeit by accident. But that man's death had weighed heavy on her heart, and I knew she would do anything to avoid taking another's life. She would never have it in her to kill one of us.

"So, what are we going to do?" Leo questioned, looking at me.

"For now, we keep her out of our investigation. While there are a number of coincidences, we have no solid evidence that she is involved in this. Therefore, she is innocent until proven guilty. However, I want everyone to keep an eye out of her. Enough coincidences and we'll be forced to take her in." They all nodded. "And after all this is done, we will speak with her about the Hunter division."

"That's it?" Leo looked surprise. "Just a talk?"

"Any other suggestions?" I asked, looking at him. He hesitated. "Well?"

"Remove her powers." He said eventually. I frowned.

"Continue." I urged, wanting to hear this idea.

"Graham has his guys remove the powers of hundreds of Specials. It wouldn't be the first time that we've taken powers, then let the person go." Leo reminded us. "It would solve the problem without us having to hurt her. Or having her hurt one of us."

"She always hated those powers." I murmured, remembering how she told me, so long ago on a train far from here, that she despised her powers and hated her father for giving them to her. Her opinion had grown softer over the years, surely, but it wouldn't be the worst thing in the world. "I'll consider it."

"Chase, she would hate you forever if you did that." Roxanna looked at me, horrified at the very idea. "Whether or not she likes those powers, she would hate you for taking the choice away from her. And what if Graham says no to removing her powers? He'll either lock her up for leaving us, or force her back into this. We can't do this to her."

"I said I'll think about it. I haven't made a decision yet." Honestly, I was hoping that maybe she could be convinced to come back to us. It was a long-shot, especially with her stubbornness, but it would be the easiest solution. She would never let us take away her powers – she would put up a fight. And Graham wouldn't just let her get away with that. I sighed, shaking my head. "What else do we have?

"Uh, not much, according to the sheriff's office." Leo replied. "No major criminal acts, no new people causing trouble in town-"

"But there are some new people in town." Alex interrupted. Leo frowned.

"Are you sure?" He questioned.

"Yeah, the sheriff's office didn't seem to think so." Roxanna agreed. Alex shrugged.

"It's a big town – they're bound to miss someone." He replied with a shrug. "Anyway, I was talking to this girl, Kate, at the arcade and she mention a kid named Spin who showed up a few months ago along with a couple of his friends."

"His name is Spin?" Rhyder questioned. Alex shrugged.

"A nickname, obvious. I don't know his real name though." He replied. "But by the sounds of it, the guy doesn't like to talk about his past."

"Spin…" I hummed thoughtfully. "That name sounds familiar."

"I know, that's what I was thinking." Alex nodded. "I started talking to some of the guys are the arcade. No one knows who he is, or where he came from."

"Sounds like a Special in hiding." Leo commented. Alex nodded.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." He agreed.

"What about his friends? What do you know about them?" I questioned, trying to think.

"There's four of them, they think. Two girls, two guys, all a lot older than him." Alex replied. "Kate thinks that one of the girls works as a mechanic or something, judging by her clothes and the things she talks about with her boyfriend. One of the guys is a security guard at the mall, but she couldn't remember his name. I don't know much about the other two, but she said the guard was 'pretty cute'."

"Alright, so we're dealing with 5 possible Specials." I thought aloud. "Alright, tomorrow, we find this Spin kid and his friends. Tail them. Alex, I want you following the kid, the rest of will take one when we see them. Don't make contact with them, but keep an eye on them. I want to know their habits, their routines, their friends…everything that could be useful. Understood?"

"Yes sir." Alex joked, but every one of them nodded.

"Alright, until then, get some rest. I want to leave by 900 hours." I told them.

"Kay. Good night." Alex didn't need much persuading, leaving as soon as I was done talking. Roxanna chuckled lightly.

"He is the easiest teenager in the world, I swear." She smiled. "Good night boys."

"Night Roxanna, night Leo." I called as they left the room. I turned to say something to Rhyder, but he was already passed out on his bed. I wasn't all that surprised – visions tended to wear him out pretty badly. In fact, I was surprised he'd remained conscious this long. Sighing, I kicked off my boots and climbed into my own bed, trying to think of anything except Vivyanna.

Of all the places in the world she could have gone to, she chose here? Why? I had a distinct feeling that Bree and Marcus were here too – they probably wouldn't separate. But still, it bothered me. In fact, all of this bothered me. I hadn't seen any of them in years, but that didn't mean that I still didn't feel the pain of them leaving. Bree and Marcus had always been on the edge, not really liking their job, but never being bold enough to just walk out. But Vivyanna had been. I could still remember the events that led up to that moment…


	6. The Past

**Chase's POV**

**FLASHBACK: 4 YEARS AGO, 1 YEAR AFTER MAYBANK'S REVENGE**

**MANHATTEN, NEW YORK STATE**

_BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!_

_I groaned, rolling over in bed. I hated mornings. Mornings sucked. Especially when we had to work that day. I hit the snooze button, noticing that it hadn't woken my partner. "Vivyanna, time to get up." I murmured, shaking her gently. She rolled over towards me, not opening her eyes._

" _Chase, time to sleep." She argued tiredly. I chuckled._

" _Don't make me force you out of bed." I warned. She smiled, her eyes still refusing to open._

" _I'd like to see you try." She challenged. I sighed._

" _Alright." I shoved her gently, pushing her towards the edge of the bed. I wasn't actually going to push her off, but as expected, Vivyanna's eyes snapped open as she felt herself getting closer to the edge._

" _Chase!" She exclaimed, sitting up. I smirked._

" _I did warn you, Vivy." I reminded her, heading towards the bathroom for my morning shower before she could argue at the use of her nickname._

_When I got out, Vivyanna was already dressed in her mission suit – black pants and a crimson sleeveless top. She had a jacket, like the rest of us, but never wore it for missions. She complained that it restricted her movements and that she didn't want to set it on fire during a mission._

" _Roxy just texted me." She mentioned, handing me a coffee. "Graham's got a job for us or something."_

" _We need to get there early." I nodded, sipping from the drink._

" _Or we could take the day off. Enjoy ourselves." She suggested, leaning against the kitchen counter. She gave me a look._

" _If Graham's got a mission, it means that it's probably a Special, which means that people could be in danger." I reminded her. Vivyanna wasn't particularly fond of Graham, and I knew she didn't like the fighting so much, but she did seem completely dedicated to the 'saving people' part of the job. She wanted to help others almost as much as I wanted to stop Specials._

" _Alright. Let's go." She agreed. I nodded, grabbing an apple from the fridge. Vivyanna already had a bagel in her hand, a coffee in the other, so I took the driver's seat. The ride was pretty nice, as usual, with the both of us still waking up. Roxanna and Leo were waiting for us at the front gate._

" _Took you guys long enough." Roxanna grumbled as we caught up with them. "The others are already in the meeting room."_

" _Sorry. Someone here," I jerked my thumb at Vivyanna, "didn't want to get out of bed."_

" _Hey!" She protested, pushing me away from her. I caught her hand, pulling her closer so that my arm was around her waist. Leo rolled his eyes._

" _Lovebirds." Leo grumbled, walking away. I raised an eyebrow at that._

" _What's put him in a foul mood?" I questioned. Roxanna shrugged as if she didn't know, but Vivyanna and I knew better. "He asked you out and you shot him down again?"_

" _I…yeah. Kinda." She admitted. Vivyanna frowned at her, pulling away from me a little, but still holding my hand._

" _Why?" She asked._

" _Why what?" Roxanna looked genuinely confused._

" _Why did you turn him down? A date with him may not be that bad." Vivyanna suggested. Roxanna shrugged._

" _I don't know…Leo wants a serious relationship. One that lasts a while. But that's not what I'm looking for right now. I've got a lot on my plate and a real relationship just doesn't fit in there." She shrugged. "I guess, I don't want to lead him along when I don't feel the same way."_

" _Your loss." Vivyanna shrugged. "Let's go – Graham will want to brief us on our mission."_

" _Right. Come on." I agreed, leading the girls down the hall. Graham was waiting for us in our usual meeting room, a large room right next to the cafeteria. After missions, we usually grabbed dinner in here and hung out._

" _Sorry about the wait." I apologized, entering the room. Rhyder and Marcus were over at one end of the room, deep in conversation while Alex was chatting happily with Bree, clearly telling her about his day. He'd only recently started the 7_ _th_ _grade and was very excited about it. Leo was still in high school himself, and technically I should too, but with work and everything, I'd opted to just take online courses instead of sitting around in a classroom all day while the others took care of Specials without me._

" _No biggie." Leo replied, walking in with two trays of coffee. He handed the drinks out just as Graham walked in, holding a file._

" _Ah, you're all here. Good." He nodded, hitting a button on the nearby computer. A picture appeared on the main screen that covered a large part of the southern wall. An image of a man's face appeared. He was in his mid-forties, with brown hair and a square shaped jaw. There was a scar just above his right eye, cutting down towards his ear._

" _Who is he?" Vivyanna questioned automatically._

" _His name is Michael Smith." Graham began, but Alex laughed._

" _Mike Smith?" He questioned. "That's almost as bad as John Smith."_

" _Kid's right. Terrible name." Leo agreed._

" _What can he do?" Vivyanna questioned, ignoring them._

" _He can absorb other Special's powers." He replied._

" _Just like Derek? Man, I hated that dick." Leo growled._

" _We all hated that dick, dude." Roxanna agreed._

" _Except, he's not exactly the same. Derek mimicked abilities just by being around a Special, Michael can temporarily steal them, but only through physically touching the Special." Graham corrected._

" _Alright, that's new, but why are we going after him?" Vivyanna inquired._

" _Vivyanna-" Rhyder started, sighing in annoyance._

" _No." She gave him a glare. "I want to know what crime he's committed. If he's innocent, we should leave him alone."_

" _He murdered one of our agents, but because of the way the man was killed, it's being written off as an accident." Graham replied coolly. Vivyanna looked at him._

" _He killed the agent with his powers?" She questioned, raising an eyebrow. Graham nodded. "Well, why was an agent there in the first place?"_

" _It doesn't matter." I told her, silencing her with a glare. God, she always had to be so difficult about these things, didn't she? "He still committed a crime, which means he will be brought in."_

" _As for your question, the agent was there because we suspected that he had powers and we were trying to speak with him about it. There wasn't supposed to be violence, we just wanted to know how developed his abilities were and if he was a risk to the public's safety." Graham replied, looking at her. Vivyanna nodded._

" _Alright." She sighed, still sounding annoyed at be told to stop. "You're the boss."_

" _Send me the coordinates of his general location." I told Graham before leading my team out of the meeting room and down towards the garage. Two four by fours were waiting for us, one black and the other a dark green. As usual, Leo, Vivyanna, Alex and I took the first one while Roxanna, Rhyder, Bree, and Marcus took the second._

" _Set the comm channel to channel eight." I instructed before climbing into out vehicle._

" _Comm channel set." Roxanna told me over the communication channel. "What's the plan?"_

" _Alex is going to distract the guy and draw him away from the crowd. We don't want civilians getting in the way." I ordered as I pulled out of the base. "Alex, try and get him into an abandoned building or something."_

" _Judging by his coordinates, there's a warehouse district nearby. Bring him there, to the farthest one away from the main streets." Vivyanna instructed, looking at the coordinates on her tablet. "And be careful about it, Quicky. If he steals your speed, you're defenseless."_

" _Yes Mom." Alex replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes at the older girl._

" _The rest of us will be waiting for him." I continued. "Rhyder and Marcus, I want you guys on the outside, in case he has friends or family watching his back."_

" _He doesn't appear to." Bree mentioned, speaking over the comms. "It says here that his wife left him a few years ago – probably after she discovered his powers – so we don't need to worry about his crazy lover or something. But he does have a son…Nineteen years old, Sebastian Smith. He's smart, by the looks of it. Graduated top of his class last year."_

" _He have powers?" Leo questioned._

" _Unknown." Rhyder replied, sounding bored with the mission already. "He doesn't appear to, though."_

" _It's possible though. From what Graham's told me, some powers can be hereditary." I shrugged._

" _So, watch out for another guy, just in case." Bree warned. "Six feet tall, light brown hair, brown eyes."_

" _Got it." Alex nodded._

" _Do you?" Marcus checked, his tone severe. He, like me, didn't want any mistakes on this mission._

" _Draw him away from civilians, bring him to the last warehouse, don't let him touch me, don't let him get away, don't let his son, who may or may not have powers, get involved." Alex listed. "I missing anything?"_

" _Yeah, be careful." Vivyanna added, ruffling the kid's hair with one of her rare smiles on her face. "Because if you break your leg, your off missions until it heals."_

" _Got it." Alex rolled his eyes, and pulling out his phone to text some of his friends from school. Eventually, we got close to our location._

" _Okay. Our satellites last recorded an image of him entering the mall about five minutes from here." I announced, pulling over to the side of the road. "You know what to do, Alex."_

" _See you in a few." The boy replied before shutting the door behind him. I pulled out again, heading towards the warehouses that Vivyanna had mentioned earlier._

" _Hey, why do we always send Alex as bait anyway?" Leo asked, leaning on the back of my seat._

" _Because he's one of the fastest people on the team, but people will be less likely to be suspicious of him than Bree because of his age." Vivyanna replied. "Besides, have you seen his puppy-dog eyes? Who could resist those?"_

" _Your sister's the same way." Leo agreed. "She can just give me this look and I melt."_

_Vivyanna and I exchanged smirks. Poor Leo, in love with someone who would never feel the same way…_

" _Here we are." I announced, parking behind the warehouse. Roxanna parked her vehicle next to ours._

" _Good idea." She mentioned, gesturing at where we'd parked the vehicles. "He won't notice them unless he comes in behind."_

" _Precisely." I agreed, entering the warehouse. It was a rather large one, with rows and rows of brown boxes. "What kind of warehouse is this?"_

" _Construction, I think." Marcus replied, looking at one of the boxes. "Yep. Definitely construction."_

" _Got it." I nodded. "Rhyder, Marcus, outside."_

" _Yes sir." They both replied, disappearing from the room._

" _Bree, find out if there's a fire exit in here. If there is, guard it." I ordered. She sped away._

" _Fire exit, secure." She announced over the comm links. "Gonna stay here in case Mike has any ideas."_

" _Good." I nodded to myself. "Vivyanna and Roxanna, I want you guys to stick to the center, near the main entrance. Take him down, but don't injure him severely, okay? And don't let him steal your powers."_

" _Right." "Well, duh." They both replied, heading off in the direction I'd said. I looked at Leo._

" _You take left, I'll take right. Circle around, keep him from running." I instructed before leaving, not bothering to check if he had heard me. I stuck to my side of the building, staying between and behind the massive boxes so that I could keep an eye on the sisters without anyone able to see me._

_It wasn't long before Alex came running in, at the speed of a regular human. "I stole his wallet!" The kid announced, stopping next to Vivyanna. "He's right behind me."_

" _Good. Find Leo, stick with him." Vivyanna ordered, taking the wallet from him. He nodded and sped off in a blur, leaving the two girls alone._

" _Hey!" The sound of a man's voice came from outside. A tall man, wearing a white shirt under his motorcycle jacket, stormed in. He noticed Roxanna and Vivyanna immediately and turned to them, a furious look on his face._

" _You two see a kid run in here?" He demanded, walking towards them. They exchanged looks._

" _Eleven years old, short brown hair, was wearing a black t-shirt?" Roxanna questioned, pretending to think. "Nope. Haven't seen him? You, sis?"_

" _No, can't say I have." Vivyanna replied, tossing the wallet up and catching it again._

" _Friends of his, are you?" The man chuckled. "Look, it's been fun, but the game's over. Give me back my wallet, or-"_

" _Or what?" Roxanna challenged, raised an eyebrow._

" _Or I'll call the damn cops, that's what!" He snapped, holding his hand out for the wallet. Vivyanna hummed._

" _Oh, I thought you were going to say something along the lines of 'kill you with your own powers'." She mused, pocketing the wallet. The man's expression turned dark._

" _Excuse me?" He questioned. She looked at him._

" _We know what you can do, Mr. Smith." She replied. Roxanna looked at the warehouse doors._

" _Boys?" She called. Marcus stepped out in front of them, closing them telepathically. Mike Smith had nowhere to run._

" _You know who I am." He said, looking between the two of them. "And what I can do. How?"_

" _Well, you killed a coworker of ours, for start." Vivyanna stepped around him, putting him between her and her sister. "Not very nice of you."_

" _He came after me." Mike retorted._

" _So you claim." Roxanna replied._

" _I was defending me and my son." He growled, looking around the room. I could see that his fight or flight instincts were just starting to kick in, unsure of which action to take. If he tried to run, the rest of us were waiting. And if he tried to fight, Vivyanna and Roxanna were more than capable of handling themselves._

" _Against a man sent there to talk? Well, that was quite the defense you put up." Roxanna rolled her eyes. "I mean, you did kill him after all."_

" _I didn't mean to." He murmured softly._

" _Whatever dude. Take that up with our boss." Vivyanna rolled her eyes, mimicking her older sister. "We're just here to take you in."_

" _I'm not going anywhere." He replied, backing up slightly with his fists raised._

" _Sir, I can assure you that if you cooperate with us and come quietly, you won't be harmed." Roxanna assured him._

" _But we will use all force necessary to take you in, so don't try anything stupid." Vivyanna warned. "Got it, buddy?"_

" _No way, sweetheart." The guy shook his head. Vivyanna shrugged and let out a breath._

" _Well, we tried." She mentioned. Roxanna nodded._

" _Yeah, we did." She agreed. In an instant, her posture went from relaxed and calm to Xena, Warrior Princess. She spun around, blasting a wall of icy spikes near the man. They were dull, and too far to actually kill him, but enough to stop him from running out of their immediate area._

_Mike reacted as I suspected, rushing at Roxanna. She leapt out of harm's way, sending a flurry of small icy bits, the size of quarters, at him. They pelted him roughly, leaving red marks on his exposed skin. Before he could attack again, Vivyanna was on him, surrounding him by a wall of fire._

" _You ain't getting out of here, Mike. So don't bother trying." She shouted, walking towards him. He looked up at the fire, then the ice._

" _You're like me." He realized._

" _Nothing gets by you, does it?" Vivyanna mocked. I edged closer to the fight, itching to get involved. But I wouldn't. Not unless it looked like they were in trouble._

" _If we're the same, why are we fighting?" He demanded, backing up as close as he dared to the flames._

" _You killed a man, duh." Vivyanna rolled her eyes. "And we're not the same."_

" _No?" He questioned._

" _No. I'm much better at this than you are." She replied, sending a fireball at his feet. She tended to keep to low shots, only intending to injure them or keep them from running. Shooting anyone with fire on a higher part of their body risked serious injury and death. And we couldn't have that – Graham preferred them alive._

" _Oh, really?" He rushed at her. Vivyanna dodged his hands, ducking under him. Roxanna faced him, hands ready. He looked between the two. "If I'm going down, I'm going down swinging."_

" _Yeah, okay." Roxanna and Vivyanna both sent shots at him, the balls of ice going high and the fireballs going low. He dodged them both and, instead of trying to escape like we all though, charged at Roxanna. He managed to catch her off guard, grabbing her by the wrist and pinning her arm behind her back._

_He said something to her that I was too far to hear, but Roxanna's face paled. A lot. Vivyanna raced at him, flaming flying around her, but it was too late. Roxanna fell to the ground and he shielded himself with a wall of ice._

" _Roxy!" I heard Leo shout as we both raced into the fight. Mike blasted a circle of ice out from around him, the edges sharp and pointing in random directions._

" _Back off!" He shouted. "I don't want to hurt anyone, but I will if I have to."_

" _Go to hell!" Vivyanna growled, shooting a jet of flames at the man. She stalked towards him, fire following her like a shadow. Mike looked at her, seemed to realize how much of a bad idea it was to threaten her, and stepped away from Roxanna. Leo got closer to him, standing between the two._

" _Hopefully, this will be the last time we see each other." He told us before running. I started after him, but Vivyanna was too furious at the man for hurting her sister to let anyone else take him down but her._

" _He's mine!" She shouted, bolting after him. The man looked behind him as she chased after him, let out a curse, and raised his hand. A massive wall of ice burst from the ground, breaking through both the wooden floor and the cement beneath it. It was massive, two feet wide and covering almost half of the warehouse. And, to our dismay, it was steadily growing bigger. "No!" Vivyanna screamed, leaping over the ice wall, sliding across it._

" _Vivyanna!" I shouted, but it was too late. The wall was too high for any of us to get over. "Vivyanna!"_

_There were a couple of shouts from the other side, worrying me. That girl was clearly in over her head. But it was only when things went silent, did I really grow concerned. "Vivyanna! Answer me!"_

_When there was still no answer, I grabbed the comms. "Vivyanna Krane, answer me."_

_Nothing._

" _Ow." I looked over my shoulder to see Leo helping Roxanna up. "Bastard."_

" _Are you alright?" I questioned, looking over her. She wasn't as pale as before, but still looked pretty out of it._

" _Give me a minute?" She asked, leaning heavily against Leo. "What did I miss?"_

_I gestured at the wall. "Oh." Roxanna blinked. "Shit."_

" _Yeah." I agreed before turning my comm back on. "Everyone get here, now."_

" _Chase?" Alex and Bree were next to us in an instant, with Marcus and Rhyder following at normal speeds. "Where's the guy?"_

" _And where's Vivy, for that matter?" Roxanna questioned, pushing away from Leo. She swayed slightly, not quite steady on her feet yet, but looked a little too concerned with her sister's whereabouts to worry about herself._

" _Take a guess." I retorted._

" _Vivyanna!" Marcus shouted, pounding his fist on the ice a few times. Again, we were met with silence._

" _I already tried. Comms too." I shook my head. "Marcus, you mind using your heat vision on this?"_

" _Could take a while, considering how thick this is." He retorted, but activated his heat vision. He glared the green beams of destruction at the wall, all his focus on it._

" _What was she thinking?" Roxanna demanded._

" _That some douche hurt her sister and she wanted to break his face." Leo replied, looking at her. "You sure you're okay?"_

" _A little dizzy and light-headed, but I should be good." She replied._

" _Still, maybe I should drive on the way back." Rhyder offered, holding out his hand. She laughed lightly._

" _Fair enough." She agreed, tossing him the keys before looking at Marcus. "He's good." She mentioned. "Mike."_

" _Yeah, I saw." I began to pace slightly, impatient for Marcus to finish. It had been quiet for too long. After two and a half agonizingly long minutes, Marcus was finally able to cut a hole through the ice. He used his molecular kinesis to push it out of the way and we came charging through. "Vivyanna!"_

" _Chase!" I saw her immediately. She was sitting against the bottom of the wall, Mike standing above her. A massive stake of ice was impaled in her right leg, blood slowly dripping from it. She rolled her head towards me, a pained grimace on her face._

" _Get away from her." Marcus growled, throwing Mike backwards with his telekinesis._

" _Guys!" Vivyanna groaned, biting back a cry when she tried to adjust her position._

" _Vivy, hold on." I assured her, kneeling down next to her. I reached for the stake, but she shook her head furiously._

" _No." She moaned. "Don't."_

" _Vivy…" I began, knowing that it would hurt, but that it needed to be done._

" _You bastard." Roxanna growled, glaring at the man. She raised her hand as if to shoot a ball of ice, but nothing appeared. "Stealing my powers, hurting my sister? You're dead."_

" _I didn't mean to hurt her." Mike told us, raising his hands. "It was an accident."_

" _Sure it was." I retorted angrily, standing up._

" _Chase." Vivyanna grabbed my wrist. "Stop."_

" _It's alright." I assured her, glancing back at her before turning back to Mike. "You've just made things a hell of a lot worse for yourself."_

" _Seriously, I didn't mean for her to get hurt. I only wanted to slow her down." Mike lied. "And I'm sorry your friend got hurt, but I'm not coming with you."_

" _Like hell you aren't!" Alex sped at him, angry. Mike reacted instinctively, grabbing the kid by the arm. For a moment, it looked like he was going to hurt him._

" _No!" Vivyanna shouted, shooting a massive fireball at him from her spot on the ground. Alex dropped to the ground, barely avoiding being hit. The ball of flames hit Mike in the upper chest, throwing him across the room into a shelf of boxes. He fell without a sound, not moving to get up._

" _He unconscious?" I questioned before kneeling down next to Vivyanna. I placed my hand on the stake, frowning at the pained grimace on her face. "I'm sorry." I murmured before pulling it out._

" _Shit-" She broke off with a cry, throwing her head back into the icy wall. "Damn."_

" _You okay? He hurt you anywhere else?" I demanded, helping her up. She reached for Roxanna, leaning against her._

" _No. No, he-" She began, cut Rhyder cut her off._

" _Guys?" He called hesitantly. He was kneeling next to Mike, his hands on the man's wrist. "I think…his neck's broken. He's dead."_

_**Xxx** _

" _He's dead?" Graham was surprised. I nodded. "By Miss Krane's hand, I hear?"_

" _She was protecting Alex, sir." I excused her. "It was an accident."_

" _I see." He nodded. "I expected so. Vivyanna may be rash and reckless, but she is no killer."_

_I nodded in agreement. Her actions had been in defense of Alex. She hadn't meant to kill him, we all knew that. She had walked down to the infirmary, with the Leo's help, and was currently getting her leg dealt with. Roxanna was down there, still a little tired but pleased that her cryokinesis had returned. Alex had gone home with Rhyder, whom he crashed with, so they could both get some rest and, in Alex's case, some homework done. Bree and Marcus had left too, leaving only the four of us at work._

" _What now, sir?" I asked, unsure of how we'd proceed. We'd always managed to bring in Specials without seriously injuring them before, let alone killing them. Even accidently._

" _I will take care of it." Graham assured me. "I'll have agents speak to his son, tell him about his father's unfortunate accident without revealing our involvement. It's tragic, but I suppose that there is nothing we can do."_

" _Yes sir." I nodded._

" _Meanwhile, send your team home, tell the Krane sisters to rest up, and I want to know when they'll both be able to go out in the field again."_

" _Roxanna could do with a good night's rest, but will be back tomorrow." I told him, having already checked. "As for Vivyanna, she'll be on crutches for a week, but after a couple of weeks she'll be back to full fighting form."_

" _Good, that's good." Graham nodded. "You're dismissed. I will see you and your team tomorrow."_

" _Yes sir." I nodded before leaving his office. Roxanna was waiting for me outside._

" _You alright?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder. She raised an eyebrow._

" _You and Vivyanna, so overprotective." She chuckled. "I'm fine. Really, I am."_

" _Good." I nodded. "Then what's up?"_

" _Just wanted to let you know that I'm heading home. Leo offered me a ride." She told me._

" _Alright. Good." I nodded. "See you in the morning?"_

" _Yeah." She nodded. "By the way, talk to Vivyanna. She's a little…"_

" _A little…what?" I asked, confused._

" _Off, I guess." She shrugged._

" _Well, considering what happened with Mike, it's understandable." I replied. She nodded._

" _Yeah, I know. It's just…something's up, Chase. Talk to her." She insisted. I sighed._

" _Alright, I will." I agreed. She nodded._

" _Good." She smiled. "Night."_

" _Night." I smiled at her as she walked away, hands shoved in her pockets. I walked down the halls for a bit, trying to find Vivy, since I knew she wasn't going to bail without me. Eventually, I found her at the desk of one of Graham's assistants, looking at something on their computer. "What are you doing?" I asked._

" _Checking something." She replied, not looking up. I frowned._

" _You want to tell me what you're checking?" I inquired._

" _You remember that Special we took in last month? The one who could walk through walls?" She questioned. I nodded._

" _Marie Mitchell, in Topeka, Kansas. Committed murder of the second degree. Right?" I confirmed. She nodded. "So?"_

" _Graham told us that her powers were removed and that she was sent to a federal prison." She continued. I nodded. "Except, I can't find anything about that. Nothing."_

" _I'm confused. What are you talking about?" I demanded. She stood up, turning off the computer with a frown._

" _There is no information about the transfer, nothing at all. It's as if it never happened." She frowned, grabbing a file on her way. She held it out to me and I skimmed through it as we walked (though she did sport quite a bit of a limp). It was all information on the Mitchell lady, but nothing past my mission report._

" _Okay, so we don't have files on it. They could have been lost, you know?" I suggested. "Or maybe, because it was us who grabbed her for Graham, there weren't filed needed. Because all of it was for the Hunters Division."_

" _You realize how stupid that sounds, right?" Vivyanna questioned, clearly annoyed with me._

" _Alright, so what's the big deal? I thought you hated paperwork anyway." I frowned._

" _What if she wasn't transferred? What if Graham lied to us?" She demanded, sounding upset. I shrugged._

" _If he did, if, then I'm sure he had a good reason." I replied, shrugging._

" _Such as?" She questioned, following me out to the car. I didn't answer until I started pulling out of the garage._

" _Um…perhaps something went wrong with the transfer." I replied. "And he didn't want to tell us because he didn't want to concern us."_

" _Really?" Vivyanna raised an eyebrow at me skeptically._

" _Well, if she was no longer our concern and we were dealing with another incident not long after, so maybe he didn't want to distract us from the task at hand. Or maybe he wanted to compartmentalize the information so that not everyone knew about her being a former Special?"_

" _Yeah, right." My girlfriend grumbled as I pulled into the parking lot of our apartment building._

" _Vivyanna, he's our boss. He's doesn't have to share every bit of information with us, just like we don't have to share every bit of information with some of the agents below us." I insisted._

" _Well, that's just plain idiotic." She grumbled, hitting the button for the elevator with a frown on her face._

" _No, that's called the chain of command." I retorted. She sent me a heated glare._

" _We're not in the army, Chase." She practically snarled, entering the elevator. "I don't even get why we're working for Graham anyway."_

_I sighed. Not this again. "We're working for them because we want to do some good in the world."_

" _Yeah, and killing people is doing good in the world." She laughed darkly._

" _You killed him." I muttered. She looked at me, biting her lip._

" _I didn't mean to." She murmured. I nodded and rubbed her arm. To my surprise, she pulled away, crossing her arms._

" _I know." I told her sincerely. "You were just trying to protect Alex. Besides, it's not like he didn't deserve."_

" _He didn't." Vivyanna said suddenly. I looked at her just as the elevator came to a stop on our floor._

" _What?" I was dumbfounded._

" _Graham sent an agent after him in the first place. What if he really was just defending himself?" She questioned, looking at me._

" _Seriously? You believe that load of bullshit?" I questioned as she pulled her key out and started to unlock the door. "Vivyanna, he tried to kill you."_

" _Actually, he really was trying to slow the bleeding." She grumbled. I rolled my eyes._

" _So he claims." I retorted. She looked like she was going to argue, but I cut her off. "Look, all I know is that he stabbed you, then he claimed he was trying to save your life. But why would he?"_

" _Because he's not an asshole?" Vivyanna snorted. I shook my head._

" _Maybe he wanted to use you as a hostage. Or maybe he wanted someone to vouch for him to not go to prison." I listed. "Or maybe he was actually smart enough to realize that having two murders under his belt wouldn't exactly impress a jury."_

" _Seriously?" She gave me a look. I let out a frustrated sigh._

" _Seriously, Vivyanna. He's the bad guy – he'd have no reason to save your life." I reminded her. "And how the hell did we even get on this topic, anyway? Why were you looking up for those files in the first place, anyway?"_

_She looked away angrily, biting her lip the way she did was she was truly furious with someone. "He said some things."_

" _Such as?" I demanded._

" _He said that Specials have been disappearing world-wide over the past year." She began. "And that they haven't been seen again."_

" _Well, we do capture a lot of Specials." I reminded her._

" _Yes, we do." She agreed. "But how many of those were supposedly released into federal custody after interrogation and/or power removal? I've checked and there's only files on a handful of them. The rest have completely disappeared."_

_Alright, I had to admit, that was a little weird. But really, we were both part of a team that hunted Specials for a living, so was it really all that strange? "It's quite possible that their identities are being hidden by Graham and/or the government."_

" _But why?" She stressed. "Why would they do that?"_

" _Because they don't want the world to know about how many Specials are out there?" I suggested. "It makes sense: the public doesn't know how many Specials are really out there. The government made that decision to avoid panic. So, some files may be hidden from even us, it's not all that shocking."_

" _He's lying!" Vivyanna retorted._

" _What proof do you have?" I questioned._

" _I just…I know. Something isn't right." She replied._

" _But you have no proof. You're just taking the word of some…some freak!" I argued._

" _We're all freaks, Chase!" Vivyanna shouted in response. "Seriously, you're the smartest person alive and I can set things on fire with my mind."_

_I let out a loud sigh, glaring at her. "Look. He made some good points about the people we work for. He's been lying to us, and who knows what's been happening to those Specials."_

" _Why the hell do you care?" I demanded. "They're just Specials."_

" _We are too." Vivyanna snapped._

" _We're nothing like them." I growled. She gave me a sad look._

" _Aren't we?" She said softly. "Chase, not all of them are murders. We've stolen, we've broken into places."_

" _To survive." I retorted. How could she compare us to them? How could she do that? "Vivyanna, they're murderers, monsters."_

" _What, because they have powers?" Vivyanna questioned incredulously._

" _How could you choose to take their side?" I demanded._

" _Because we're like them!" She shouted. "Chase, those are our people, and we're hunting them down like animals!"_

" _Maybe some of them deserve to be hunted!" I argued._

" _How can you say that?" Vivyanna questioned. "They're-"_

" _They're not our people." I growled. "And if you think for one second that they are, you're in the wrong line of work."_

" _Maybe I am." She retorted. She stormed into the bedroom and I began to follow her, only for her to push past me on her way back out to the living room, a pillow tucked under her arm._

" _What are you doing?" I asked with a sigh._

" _Sleeping on the damn couch!" She snapped angrily, throwing the pillow onto the couch with a huff. It started smoking, red embers visible, but Vivyanna quickly put it out before it caught fire. I sighed and headed to bed, thinking that we could deal with this in the morning when we weren't so angry at each other._

_But when I woke up the next morning, Vivyanna was gone._

**Flashback Over (Back to the Present)**

I sighed, placing my head in my hands. I had hoped Vivyanna would come back after a couple of days, but it had soon became clear that her mind was made up. Marcus and Bree, who had always been a little hesitant to follow Graham without question, had left soon after, presumably to join up with her.

To this day, I still had no idea what Mike had said to her, but whatever it was, it was enough to make her leave us for good. And she was never coming back.


	7. Spark of a Rebellion

**Sebastian's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"You have fun?" I smiled at Vivyanna as we walked back to our place. She nodded, taking a sip out of the drink she grabbed before we left.

"Yeah, just…" She trailed off hesitantly. I frowned.

"Something wrong, beautiful?" I asked. She shrugged.

"I don't know, just…something felt off, you know. Like we were being watched or something."

"You think we were being watched?" I questioned quickly, frowning at her. Vivyanna had good instincts for this kind of thing – one of the reasons I loved having her around – but she'd never sensed anyone else's presence before. She nodded hesitantly.

"I don't know. Maybe." She frowned. "Should we be concerned?"

"Probably not." I reasoned. "After all, you're probably all paranoid because of the memorial."

"I don't know." Vivyanna hesitated.

"Hey, it's fine." I assured her as we walked up the road. "Relax. Who would be watching us? Hunters? No way – they'd take us out the second they saw us. And nobody else would have reason to have beef with us."

"Fair enough." Vivyanna agreed, slowing when she saw the dark haired girl leaning against the wall next to the door. The girl's hair was swept back over her shoulders, the red on her black and orange t-shirt only visible thanks to the light of seeping out from the space under the door. "Oh, hey Lexi."

"Hey Vivyanna!" Lexi smiled brightly at my girlfriend. "How was your date?"

"Fun. I LOVE Mexican food." Vivyanna replied with a smirk. The two girls weren't exactly friends (Vivyanna thought she was too 'perky'), but they got along well enough.

"Awesome." Lexi grinned. "Hey, do you mind if I borrow Sebastian for a sec?"

"Yeah, I was going to bed." Vivyanna shrugged. "I'll see you around Lexi."

"You too. Good night." She waved as Vivyanna walked into the house. We waited a few seconds to make sure she was really busy. Then the atmosphere went from cheerful to deadly serious in a nano-second.

"She thinks we were being watched." I mentioned. She nodded. "She's never noticed you following us before. What changed?"

Lexi had been following me around for a long time now, being my undercover backup since we started our operation, so I hadn't been too surprised when I caught sight of her in one of the booths, cleverly hidden behind another of our friends.

"I don't think it was me she sensed." Lexi replied, leaning back against the wall with her arms crossed.

"Then who?" I demanded.

"Two people. A guy, late teens, early twenties, African-American. He's not my concern." Lexi replied with a shrug. "It was his girlfriend."

"What about her?" I inquired.

"The way she was looking at Vivyanna was almost like she'd seen a ghost, and considering her appearance…" Lexi looked at me. "You said that Vivyanna's older sister was a Hunter."

"You think it was Roxanna." I observed.

"Almost certain of it." Lexi replied. "I trailed them back to their hotel, where they met up with a kid. Got his name from Kate – apparently it's Alex. You know him?"

"I know of him." Little Alex Johnson had been like a little brother to Vivyanna, and he was probably the only Hunter she might ever contact again on her own. Two people, one resembling Roxanna and the other named Alex? Too much of a coincidence. "Damn it."

"We've been made?" Lexi confirmed. I nodded.

"I think so." I sighed loudly. Shit. I should have known better than to grab those weapons from the military base, but it was too big a chance to pass up.

"Well, what do we do now? Do we go ahead of schedule?" She asked, sounding hopeful. I didn't blame her – we were all eager to finally show the world what we could do. None of us Specials wanted to hide in the shadows anymore, but the first step to do that was to take out the Hunters.

"No, not yet." I said regretfully. As much as I wanted to take them out, I still needed a few things. More allies, for one. My new family, Bree, Marcus, Spin, and Vivyanna, was the ideal candidates to join my rebellion. And though I'd already convinced one of them to follow me in our fight for freedom, the others were still unaware of the situation. And though none of them were happy with the way we were being forced to live, it would still take a lot of convincing. "Not everything's ready yet."

"So, what's the plan?" Lexi demanded, impatient.

"Relax, princess. Let me think." I retorted. "Alright, pull some of the guys out of town. Keep the ones that will be noticed – Kate, for example. I need her to stay in position."

"Alright. And what do we do about the Hunters? We can't attack them in broad daylight." Lexi reminded me. I nodded thoughtfully. "We need to get them out of town. Distract them long enough for us to complete the planning stages."

"And how do you propose that?" The only thing I could think of was attacking a location in a nearby town, Welkerville perhaps, but that would take up man power and put my guys at risk.

"I have an idea." Lexi said softly. I nodded.

"Go on." I urged.

"You're not going to like it." She warned.

"Consider me warned. Now go." I instructed. She nodded and told me what she was thinking. And she was right – I didn't like it. Not at all.

"No, Lex." I growled, beginning to pace. She gave me a look.

"Sebastian, they're not going to leave until they have a Special to pin this on. All we have to do is give them one, and we'll be bought a few days at least. More if we're lucky."

"No." I growled, though she did make a good point. "We won't betray one of our own."

"It's the best plan we've got. And, if these Hunters are as 'good' and 'kind' as they're supposed to be, they're not going to kill anyone." Lexi insisted. I scoffed.

"Tell that to Bob." I snapped. She nodded.

"I miss the kid too. We all do, especially Spin." She agreed. "But that's why we have to do it my way. It gives us the best odds of everyone surviving, and it will buy us a lot of time. Besides, we can't send in one of the rebellion – we all know too much."

I glared at her, furious. Not for suggesting it, but for being right. It wasn't fair that I had to do this, it wasn't fair what we had to sacrifice, but she was right. If those Hunters hurt who we sent in there, it would just fuel the anger of everyone else in my family. And we were so close to the finish line, we just had to do this.

"…Alright." I already hated myself for agreeing to this. "Alright. Fine. But you have to do it, not me."

"Of course. Tank and I will take care of everything." Lexi assured me. I nodded.

"Good." I didn't bother saying goodnight and just went into the house and headed towards my bedroom. Vivyanna was already in bed, curled up under the covers. Though I tried not to wake her, she stirred as I climbed into the bed, her blue eyes sliding open.

"Shh, go back to sleep beautiful." I murmured gently. She frowned.

"Something wrong?" She asked, her voice heavy with sleep.

"No, everything's alright." I assured her. She, too tired to try and figure out if I was lying or not, nodded and let her eyelids slide shut again. I sat there in bed for a while, looking down at her. She looked so peaceful, so serene, something very unusual for her. Things were going to get pretty rocky for a while, and while she may hurt for a bit, perhaps when all of this was over, she could always be this peaceful.


	8. Captured

**Vivyanna's POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"Spin!" I called, standing by his bedroom. "Spin!"

"What?" He complained, finally showing his face. Judging by his disheveled hair and the way he was rubbing his eyes, he'd still been sleeping.

"I'm heading to the garage now. Do you want me to pick anything up for you on the way home?" I asked, looking at him.

"Peanut butter. We're out." He replied. I stared at him.

"I bought that yesterday!" I protested.

"Yes. And we're out." He insisted before going back to his bed. I let out a frustrated sigh and walked out, slipping on my jacket. Bree had left for work at the mall earlier – she was the new manager of the local technology shop, Tech Town. Marcus was passed out on the couch, and Sebastian was working downtown with Tank.

I headed down the street towards the auto garage. Having had enough experience with technology (a longtime passion of mine) and stolen cars that it turned out to be a really cool job. And since I was one of their best mechanics, it happened to be really good pay.

"Morning Vivyanna." I was drawn out of my thoughts by my boss. I smiled at the long haired mechanic.

"Hey Troy. What's up?" I greeted.

"Some guy came in about ten minutes ago. Something's wrong with his engine. You mind working your magic?" He asked. I looked at him.

"What about you?" I asked teasingly. "Lost your hairnet?"

"As a matter of fact, I did." He replied, sounding annoyed. I swear, I had never met a man more obsessed with his hair than Troy West. "So I'll take up front today, you-"

"Do the actual work?" I guessed. "You owe me."

"That's why I sign your paychecks." He called as I walked into the garage. A blue Porsche awaited me.

"Okay baby, let's see what's wrong with you." I murmured, popping the hood.

I spent most of the day working on the Porsche, only taking a break around one for lunch. "Alright, that guy's definitely going to need a new oil pump before they can get that thing going again. Do you want to tell him, or should I?" I asked, walking into the front of the garage with a sandwich in my hands, where Troy was filling out some forms.

"I will." He replied. "By the way, you got a phone call."

"Really?" No one ever called me at work. "Was it Sebastian?"

"No, uh, some chick." He replied, shrugging. "Said her name was Roxy."

I stopped. No way. There was no way my sister could know where I was. I'd been so careful about keeping away from her. There was no way she should know I was in California, let alone Mission Creek. "Are you sure that was her name?"

"Yeah. She needs you to call her back ASAP." He replied, handing me a sticky-note with a phone number on it. I nodded and took the slip of paper, stepping outside.

Taking a deep breath, I dialed the number. The phone was answered on the second ring.

" _Vivyanna?"_  Yep, that was definitely my sister's voice.

"How'd you find me?" I asked, not even bothering to say hello.

" _Please, I never lost you. I just kept my distance."_  She replied.

"Why?" I questioned.

" _You're my little sister."_  She said it as if it was obvious.  _"And I figured that if you needed your space from the Hunters, then you deserve your space."_

I hadn't expected her to say that. In fact, I expected a lecture about me running off on my own without her. "I…uh…wow, Roxy. Thanks."

" _Don't mention it."_  She replied.  _"But listen, we need to talk."_

"About?" I questioned. "And if you say that you want me to come back-"

" _No, it's not that. It's Alex."_  She told me, her tone grim.

"Why, what's wrong? He's okay, isn't he?" I demanded, concerned. No matter how far we were from each other, Quicky was my surrogate little brother. He'd been my responsibility ever since he was thrown into the Facility with me, and I still loved him.

" _Well, it's…complicated. We should do this face to face."_  She decided.

"Roxy, I'm not coming to New York. I can't. You know what Graham will do if come back."

" _I know, I know."_  She assured me, her tone soothing. Huh, I figured she'd call me a baby for worrying. Maybe we'd both changed in the past few years.  _"What I meant is that I'm in Mission Creek."_

"Where?" I demanded, looking around as if she'd pop out of the bushes.

" _That Mexican place on the corner. Meet me there."_  She told me.

"I don't know…"

" _Please, Vivyanna."_  She pleaded.  _"It's really important."_

I sighed. "Is it just you, or is Chase with you?" I questioned.

" _Just me. I promise."_  She assured me.  _"Chase doesn't even know where I am."_

I hesitated. This could very well likely be a trap. But then again, it was Roxanna. I was her sister; she wouldn't hurt me. If anything, she'd try to convince me to come back, but using physical force on me? Never.

"Alright. Yeah. Just give me ten minutes." I told her before hanging up. I poked my head inside, told Troy I was going on my lunch break, and started towards the restaurant.

How had Roxanna known where I was? I didn't believe her 'we've always known' crap for a second. Something must have tipped her off. Maybe word of that rebellion had hit their ears and they came here to investigate? It would make sense for Graham to send them here, even if it was just a rumor. That man was ruthless when it came to Specials. He thought all of us were chaotic and destructive, even the ones working for him, and he wanted control.

What if that was the reason Roxanna had called me? Perhaps Alex had stepped out of line one too many times and Graham had decided to punish him? If that was the case, there was no way that bastard was going to get away with it. He'd done many terrible things to Specials over the years, whether the Hunters knew about it or not, but going after him alone would be suicide. Or worse, it would just prove to the public that we really were menaces. But still, despite all that, if he hurt Alex, there'd be hell to pay.

I entered the restaurant cautiously, my eyes scanning the room for anyone I recognized, good or bad. Nope. No Chase, Rhyder, Alex, or Leo. But no Roxanna either.

I grabbed a booth near the back so I could keep an eye on both the entrance and the exit, then I dialed the number again.

This time, she didn't pick up. It didn't even ring. I just heard the message: "We're sorry; you have reached a number that has been disconnected or is no longer in service. If you feel you have reached this recording in error, please check the number and try your call again."

"The hell?" I demanded, staring at the phone. Yep, that definitely the same number I called earlier. But something was wrong. Time to bail.

I got to my feet and started heading for the door. But suddenly, a loud noise came from the kitchens. I turned to see what it was out of instinct, but not fast enough. I saw a flash of white, then flames, so many flames, then everything faded into darkness.

**Xxx**

My eyes flew open as I gasped for air. At first, I wasn't sure what was going on, or where I was. All I knew was that there was smoke, a lot of it, and fire, and screaming, and my head hurt.

I sat up gingerly, trying to figure out what happened. Obviously, something exploded, and if I had to guess, it wasn't an accident. I mean, it was next to impossible to create that kind of explosion unless you had a bomb, or you threw a bottle of Axe into a fire pit. My guess was a bomb. But why?

I got to my feet, looking around. The wall between the kitchens and eating area was half-destroyed, smoke filling the room. Tables were turned over, chairs broken, fire everywhere. A few bodies lay burnt and broken near the wall – they must have been the closest to the blast – while the survivors scrambled over each other in an attempt to escape.

Going through the main entrance was cut off to me, too many people crowding it. Suddenly, above the screaming of panicking people, I heard some shuffling off to the side. Turning my head, I saw two people, a woman and a little boy, trapped beneath a table. Flames danced in front of them, cutting off any chance for escape.

I stumbled towards them, coughing as smoke entered my lungs. "H-Here!" I coughed, raising my hand. The flames died down until there was only a burn mark in the floor to show that there was even a fire.

"You-You're…" The woman, clearly the boy's mother, stared at me with wide eyes.

"The one…saving your lives." I coughed. I pulled the table up with both hands, then jerked my head at the fire exit. "G-Go!"

The woman didn't reply, instead scooping her eight-year old boy into her arms and bolting for the exit. I lowered the table, gasping for air. The smoke was so thick, and who knows how long I was out for. Fire may be my element, but smoke certainly wasn't.

I headed for the kitchens next, not the exit, hoping that maybe one of the cooks was still alive. I only needed one look to know that I was wrong. I started towards the exit, only stopping when a blast of cold air rushed in. I raised my hands to shield my face as a cold, biting frost filled the room. When I finally looked up, all the fire had been put out. The people who'd been trying to escaped stopped as well, looking around in awe, wondering what had saved them.

I didn't need to wonder, for the answer stood right in front me. Roxanna walked in, hands out to stop any more fires. The others followed her, first Rhyder, then Leo and Alex and finally…Chase.

He looked very much the same, but so different at the same time. He hadn't grown much, an inch at most, but he seemed to stand taller. His hair was cut a different way, just a bit spikier than before, and his eyes were cold. Just cold.

I stared at him and the others in shock. It had been years since I'd seen them, but there was no denying that it really was them. These were the people I would have died for once. And these were the people looking at me in horror.

"Vivyanna, what did you do?" Chase looked at me, those brown eyes filled with accusation and disappointment.

"I know how…this looks but…it wasn't me!" I argued weakly, before breaking into a coughing fit that almost sent me to my knees. "Chase, I…"

"Save it." He growled, angry. I looked at my former friends, one by one, hoping that at least one of them would realize the truth. My gaze landed on my sister. She had called me here, she hadn't shown up. Was this…no, it couldn't be her. But if not her, then who?

**Sebastian's POV**

"See? I told you it would work." Lexi mentioned, looking at the Mexican place. Hunters had gone in moments before, and had no doubt seen Vivyanna in the midst of the carnage.

"I'm still surprised that Vivyanna fell for the vocal manipulation. Copying one's voice is one thing, but copying their mannerisms, the way they speak, that's completely different." I murmured.

"What can I say? I'm just that good." Lexi smirked. I sighed, eyes still trained on the building. "What is it?"

"I hate doing this to her." I muttered. Lexi looked at me.

"We talked about this." She reminded me. "We need a scapegoat. And with her ex-boyfriend and older sister running the Hunters, they're not going to hurt her. They'll take her in for questioning, lock her up, but I'd be shocked if they kill her."

"They might try to take her powers away." I mentioned.

"With their record? I doubt it." She replied, shaking her head. "They wouldn't risk her life like that. Look, I know it sucks, but she has the best odds of surviving this."

"When this is all done," I looked at Lexi, "and we've destroyed the Hunters, we're going back for her."

"Of course. We might not even have to wait until the Hunters are destroyed. They're going to lock her up for a crime she didn't commit. She'll be pissed. If we go after her and break her out just before things take off, she'll be angry enough to join with us. Hell, she might even help us kill them." Lexi reasoned. I nodded.

"I hope you're right." I nodded, watching as the tallest of the Hunters forced Vivyanna out the door. Her hands were in handcuffs, the new kind made specifically to block any Special's powers. She was arguing with the Hunter, but he said nothing, instead forcing her into the back of one of their trucks. She didn't look very pleased.

I turned to Lexi. "Alright. Gather the others. It's time."


	9. Interrogation

**Chase's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

I watched as Vivyanna paced around her prison cell, occasionally glaring at the one way mirror. She had no way of knowing I was here, but it was clear that she sensed another person's presence. She completely ignored the cot in the corner and the sink on the Eastern wall,

It had been about six hours since the explosion, and she was still furious with being captured. Not that I could blame her; being manhandled into a power-proof cell by armed agents wasn't my idea of a picnic either. Still, I figured that, after the long car ride to the government base in Welkerville and being in the cell for a few hours, she'd have calmed down a bit.

I watched her for a bit, analyzing her moves and her expression, trying to figure out what she was thinking. Once, it would have been easy, but now, not so much. Her shoulders were tense, her feet constantly moving. She was still in fight or flight mode, but with nowhere to go and no one to fight, it was doing her no good. She was clearly agitated, but the effects of the smoke inhalation had long since disappeared. Her arms were crossed, most likely to make her feel like she had some control of the situation, but her fingers were tapping her arms rapidly, showing her impatience.

I sighed, then grabbed a folder off the desk. I entered the room slowly, locking the door behind me. knowing how this would go at first, then entered the room. As expected, she froze the moment the door opened, eyes narrowing at me as I entered.

"Chase." She greeted me coldly, eyes ablaze with fury. I didn't answer her right away, instead sitting down on the cot, my elbows on my knees as I rested my head on my hands. I looked at her for a moment more before speaking.

"Talk to me." I said clearly, keeping all emotion out of it. She let out a frustrated sigh, clenching her fists.

"I didn't kill those people." She growled at me.

"I know." I agreed. She continued anyway.

"I'm serious, Chase. How could you ever think that I'd…wait, what?" She stared at me, suddenly processing what I said. I had to force myself not to smirk at the confused look on her face.

"I know you didn't kill those people." I repeated. She frowned.

"But earlier…you said…" She shook her head, confused.

"I know what I said. I should have analyzed the situation before jumping to conclusions." I admitted. "I didn't realize until after the car had left that there was no way you'd do something like that. But you're no murderer. I know that."

"Exactly." She growled, trying to appear as if she was still furious. But it was obvious that the anger was fading into annoyance and frustration.

"I'm sorry." I apologized sincerely. She nodded, then sat down on the cot, keeping about a foot of space between us.

"Wait. If you know I'm innocent, why am I still here?" She questioned. I sighed.

"There's a few reasons. For instance, I may believe you, but Special Agent Graham doesn't." I admitted. She let out an angry breath.

"Well, Graham can go die in a ditch for all I care." She muttered. I nearly smirked, having missed that kind of attitude in the group.

"Yeah, well, he's the one pulling the strings." I reminded her.

"Well, tell him to let me out. You're mission leader, after all." She frowned, then looked at me. "You are still mission leader, right?"

"Yes, but he won't listen to me." I replied. I looked at her imploringly. "Help me out here, Vivyanna. Give me something I can use in your defense."

"Like what?" She questioned.

"Tell me what happened. Why you were there, what happened just before the explosion, after it. Anything that could be helpful."

Vivyanna thought about it for a long while. I knew she was going through her mind, trying to pick out details that would be helpful.

"I got a call at work, asking me to head there." She said, frowning as if something didn't make sense.

"Who called you?" I asked. She looked at me.

"Roxy." She admitted. I frowned.

"Roxy was with me all morning." I told her. "We were working on a job."

"It was her." Vivyanna insisted. "I'd know her voice anywhere."

"What did she say?" I asked, still confused. I was too, not sure who would have called. Perhaps someone with vocal manipulation? Bree had that ability once. Others could too.

"That we needed to talk, like ASAP. Something about Alex…" She looked at me. "He is alright, isn't he?"

"Of course." I assured her. "I don't know about that phone call, but I'll look into it. What happened next?"

"I went to the restaurant to meet her, but she didn't show. I was just about to leave when things went sideways." She replied simply.

"Tell me about the explosion." I instructed.

"It was a fair sized explosion." She replied thoughtfully. Explosions had always been her specialty. "I wouldn't say a big one, since it only took out the interior of the building and there were only…two casualties?"

"Five if you include the ones who died of their injuries." I corrected.

"Five casualties then. It came from the kitchen, so it couldn't have been one of the customers. Too big to be an accident. Likely a bomb of some sort." She told me. I bit my lip.

"No bomb casings have been found." I informed her. Her face fell.

"Um…then…damn it. It's probably a Special. But I had nothing to do with it." She looked at me. I nodded.

"I believe you." I assured her. "But, if not you, then who?"

"I don't know. I've never met another pyrokinetic Special before." She admitted. I frowned.

"Not even your boyfriend?" I inquired. She looked at me sharply.

"How did you know about…have you been watching me?" She demanded, sliding as far away from me as she could.

"No, Roxy saw you and him in the restaurant when she grabbed dinner with Leo the other night." I replied. "Believe me, we had no idea you were in Mission Creek to begin with."

"Then why were you there?" She questioned suspiciously. I sighed.

"We were on a mission." I told her. She frowned.

"Tracking down Specials?" She assumed, eyes narrowed. "Who?"

I sighed and pulled a picture out of the folder. It was a copy of the one taken at the military base, the one of the boy. I handed it to her. "Look familiar?"

She stared at it, forehead creased in confusion. "So you have a picture of Sebastian. What of it?"

"This photo was taken a few nights ago at a military base." I told her, frowning when she looked surprised. Was she faking it, or did she really not know what her new boy toy was up to? "Weapons were stolen by him and another girl."

"You're mistaken." She retorted after a moment, shoving the photo back in my hands. She got to her feet, walking to the other end of the room. She was clearly annoyed with me.

"I'm not." I replied. She spun around, glaring at me.

"Then you're lying. Or being lied." She snapped. "Sebastian wouldn't do that."

"Video evidence doesn't lie." I told her. She glared at me. "And I get that you're into him-"

"I love him." She corrected me. I stared at her. "Sebastian has been one of the only things I've ever really been able to count on, and I love him."

"Fine. You love him." I forced the words out. "But he's been caught stealing military-grade explosives with at least one other Special. And don't you dare tell me that he's not a Special, because we both know what he is."

"Who he is." Wow, she really liked correcting me today. "Not what."

"Does it matter?" I questioned.

"You're implying that because he's a Special, he's a thing, not a person." She replied stiffly. I sighed.

"We both know who he is." I gave in. "Happy?"

She smirked at me, furious. "Yep."

"We have proof that he's involved with this, if not leading it." I added. She rolled her eyes at me. "I just want to know what you know about it."

"What I know about it?" She questioned. "You're kidding, right? There's nothing to know about. Just a few false accusations from my jealous ex."

"Is that what you think this is?" I questioned. "God, you're so emotional at times."

"Well, that's not your problem anymore, is it?" She sneered. I sighed.

"There have rumors about a Special Rebellion, correct?" I asked, trying a different approach. She didn't answer, so I took her silence as a yes. "There have been multiple attacks on military bases in the past year, all of them in California. Most of them were within a one hour radius of Mission Creek. All the attacks were by Specials, either the same ones or those with similar abilities. A picture of your current boyfriend was taken at the scene of the last break in."

"So you say." She replied. "That photo could have been taken anywhere."

"It was taken at the base." I answered. She didn't answer. "Vivyanna, I don't think that you have anything to do with this. At least, I don't want to think that. But if you know anything, you need to tell me now so I can try and talk Graham out of-"

"Out of what?" She questioned. "Killing me?"

"Imprisoning you." I finished. She shook her head.

"I don't know anything. And neither does Sebastian." She added.

"Look, it's not your fault that you fell in with the wrong crowd." I began. "You made a bad choice in friends; I've done it."

"I've made a bad choice?" She laughed darkly. "Says the guy working for Graham."

"He's my boss, not my friend." I corrected automatically.

"Whatever." She rolled her eyes, pacing again.

"Sebastian-" I tried again, but she cut me off.

"You don't know anything about Sebastian." She snarled. I nodded.

"I know enough. He showed up in town around the same time the attacks and break-ins started, his name appears frequently on anti-Hunter forums-"

"I wonder why." She muttered. I frowned.

"Excuse me?" I asked. She sighed.

"Do you remember Mike Smith?" She questioned. I frowned, trying to remember why that name sounded familiar. She sighed. "The Special who could steal powers?"

"The one from four years ago?" I questioned, remembering that he was the last Special we were sent after. "What about him?"

"Sebastian's his son." She told me. That caught me off guard.

"You're dating the son of the guy you killed?" I questioned. She looked at me.

"It was an accident!" She snapped.

"Does Sebastian see it that way?" I questioned. She shut her mouth, biting her lip. "He doesn't know it was you, does he?"

"No, he doesn't. He knows it was Hunters though, and he's right. If it hadn't been for Hunters, none of that would have ever happened." She replied.

"You used to be one of us." I reminded her. She nodded.

"My greatest regret." She agreed. "Chase, working for Graham was the biggest mistake any of us could have ever made."

"Bitter, much?" I questioned. "We're doing a lot of good."

"And a lot of bad." She added. I frowned.

"And how do you propose that?" I questioned.

"The number of Specials killed, especially the innocent ones, for one." She replied.

"A, no Special is innocent." I reminded her. "And B, there haven't been many deaths. Maybe three in the past five years. Four at the most."

Vivyanna looked at me, eyes scanning my face. They were searching for something, but I wasn't sure what. Her eyebrows knitted together after a moment.

"You still don't know, do you?" She asked, her tone shocked.

"Don't know what?" I questioned suspiciously.

"You know all those Specials that are taken in to have their powers removed?" She asked, sitting down on the cot again. I nodded hesitantly. "Only about five percent of them are ever seen again. The rest just…disappear."

"I think you're exaggerating." I replied, rolling my eyes. She shook her head.

"When you're working for him, you don't notice so much. But when you're on the run, when you're hiding from people like Graham, you hear the stuff he's trying to hide." She told me.

"Which is?" I questioned. She shook her head.

"I don't know. There are too many theories to be sure. But what I do know is that Specials that are taken in by the Hunters tend to disappear."

"They go to jail." I insisted. She shook her head sadly.

"No, they don't." She insisted. I was about to respond when there was a knock on the door. Rhyder's head popped in.

"Graham wants to speak with you." He told me. Vivyanna gave him a wary smile.

"Hey Rhyder." She greeted. His eyes flickered to her, then back to me.

"Well?" He questioned. I nodded.

"Give me a minute." I told him. He nodded and left. Vivyanna frowned.

"I take it that he thinks I had something to do with the explosion." She ventured. I shook my head, putting the photo back in the folder.

"No, it's not that." I looked at her, unsure of how much I was allowed to divulge. "He had a vision."

"What of?" She asked, worried.

"It's hard to explain." I replied, thinking of the last part of it. The part that involved Vivyanna. She nodded.

"Chase, please look into the disappearances." She implored.

"I will." I assured her. She looked at me.

"I'm serious. Before Graham decides that I need to 'have my powers removed'." She used air quotes, clearly concerned.

"It'll be fine." I assured her, not sure what to think. Four years ago, I had completely denied her accusations. But now…she wouldn't still be holding onto something like that if she didn't believe there was an ounce of truth in them. And if there was any truth to them, I was going to find out.


	10. Betrayal

**Marcus' POV**

**MISSION CREEK, CALIFORNIA**

"You need to take afternoons off more." I hummed in Bree's ear, my arm wrapped around her waist. She smiled back at me, her head on my shoulder. Since Vivyanna and Sebastian would both be working until seven, and Spin had gone to hang out with some of his friends for the rest of the night, I'd known that we would have the house to ourselves for a few more hours, something that hadn't happened in a very, very long time. And we were using our privacy to our advantage.

"Yes, well, we need to kick the others out more too." She agreed, kissing me. I kissed her back, before moving the gentle touches down her neck.

It was then, just before anything good happened, that Spin decided to return to the house. "Hello? Anyone home? Guys!" We heard him shout as the younger boy burst through the front door.

"Son of a bitch." I cussed, as Bree pushed away from me. I turned to glare at the younger boy. "Spin!"

"Guys! Did you see-" The fifteen year old stopped himself, looking between the two of us and noting how neither of us were wearing shirts. "I'm interrupting something, aren't I?"

"No shit, Sherlock." Bree growled. I glanced at her, almost glad that her shirt was the only article that had been removed so far. If Spin had walked in after her bra had been removed…well, let's just say that might be embarrassing for her. I reached for her shirt and tossed it at her. She pulled it on over her head, glaring at Spin. "Do you mind?"

"Dude, that's our couch." He looked slightly horrified for a moment.

"Yeah, well you weren't supposed to be home yet." I retorted. "And besides, if anything serious was going to happen, we'd take it to the bedroom."

Spin looked like he was going to retort, then shook his head, as if clearing it. "You know what? Not important."

"It's not?" I expected something more of a reaction from the kid.

"Not right now." He replied, looking between the both of us. I narrowed my eyes at him, taking in his rumpled clothing, as if he'd run all the way here, and the way his eyes were too wide. "What's wrong?"

He gulped, looking at us nervously. "I take it you haven't seen the news."

Bree and I exchanged looks. "Why?" My boyfriend questioned. Spin didn't answer, instead picking the TV remote off the ground and turning it on. He quickly changed the channel to the news.

A massive fire burned on the screen, in the middle of the city. It looked as if the building had just decided to spontaneously combust out of nowhere. It took me a moment, but I soon recognized the building.

"Hey, isn't that Vivyanna's favorite restaurant?" I asked, glancing at Bree.

"You mean the one she orders take-out from every time it's her turn to 'cook' dinner? Yeah, I think so. She's going to be disappointed." She frowned at Spin. "Okay, it sucks that the place caught fire, but why does this give you permission to interrupt us?"

"Again, you were on our couch." Spin retorted, still looking upset. "And keep watching; it gets worse."

"Huh?" Wow, he seemed pretty bothered by this fire. I didn't understand why at first, I mean Vivyanna was the only one who ate there regularly. Sebastian too, if you count their date nights. But then Spin turned the volume up loud enough for us to hear the reporter.

"…the explosion that nearly destroyed a local restaurant resulted in the deaths of three people and has landed several others in the hospital." The reporter announced. "While the cause of the explosion is still unknown, Hunters were on the scene today."

Hunters. "Shit." I rubbed his forehead, worried. Hunters, here? This spelled bad news for all of us. And if they thought that the explosion had anything to do with Specials, then we'd have to leave before they found us.

"It couldn't have been a Special." Bree murmured. "I mean, we're the only ones here."

"Where's Vivy and Sebastian?" I questioned quickly, looking at Spin. He shook his head.

"I don't know. I've been trying to call them, but neither of them are answering their phones." The boy replied, looking worried. "Do you think they're okay?"

I didn't answer, instead pulling out my phone and using the speed-dial. The phone on the other line rang a few times before going to voicemail.  _"Hey, you've reached Vivyanna. I either can't get to my phone right now, or I'm ignoring you. If so, please don't leave a message."_

At any other time, her voicemail would have amused me, but right now, I was starting to panic. "Vivy, I think we've been made. Spin's with Bree and I, but I need to know if you and Seb are okay. Call me back ASAP, even if it's just to tell me not to use your nickname."

I hung up, about to dial Sebastian's number when the front door opened. He walked in, a horrified look on his face. "You see the news?" Bree questioned.

"Didn't have too – I was across the street." He replied, sounding distracted.

"You see Vivyanna? We can't reach her." I told him. He looked at me, then at Spin, and then Bree.

"Hunters…they, um…they took her away in a car. Handcuffed with those anti-power cuffs and everything." He shook his head. "There was nothing I could do."

"Vivyanna's been captured?" I stared at him, shocked. "By Hunters?"

"Yeah. I saw the tall one lead her to the car any everything. She was pissed." Sebastian nodded.

"Was she hurt?" Bree questioned. He thought about it.

"Aside from a little smoke inhalation, I don't think so." He replied.

"This is bad. This is really bad." Spin worried aloud. "What do you think they're going to do to her?"

"I don't know." Bree hummed. "I mean, it's not like she's just a random Special. Chase might go easy on her, because of their past."

"Or he might be worse, because of their past." I argued. Bree looked at me. "You think Graham's going to let him go easy on her? If he doesn't do things properly, he'll put someone else in charge. Perry, perhaps."

"Well, we have to do something!" Spin exclaimed. Sebastian looked at him.

"Like what? Break in and take her back? We'll never get out of there alive." He retorted, furious. I looked at him, surprised. I expected Sebastian to suggest a full-frontal assault on the place, even if it meant our lives.

"Well, what do you suggest then?" I asked, almost accusingly. "We're not about to leave her in there to rot. She's our friend."

"Those Hunters have to be stopped. Once and for all." Sebastian looked at us. "How many of us Specials have they taken? How many have disappeared, presumably killed, by them and their boss? It has to stop!"

"You've got a plan?" Spin asked, curious.

"I've got friends…well, other friends…Specials who are as committed to this as I am. We attack their base in New York and take them all out. The psychic, the genius, that Leo kid, their super-speeder, the ice-girl and that Agent Graham of theirs. We take them all out and win freedom for all the Specials."

"You're talking about murder." I stared at him, eyes wide.

"I'm talking about a revolution." Sebastian corrected, eyes flashing. "We could put an end to the war between Specials and Hunters once and for all."

"By eliminating the other side." Bree reminded him. "Sebastian, what you're talking about…it's horrible."

"It's our only chance to ever have any kind of life." Sebastian argued. "Now, are you with me or not?"

"No." I shook my head.

"You're insane." Bree retorted.

"I'm in." Bree and I turned to look at Spin, hoping that we'd heard him wrong. But he had a confident look on his face, holding his head high.

"Spin, don't." I told him. "You're just a kid. You have no idea what-"

"I'm not a kid!" Spin snapped, glaring at me. "And I do know what I'm doing. Bob was my best friend and those Hunters killed him. Vivyanna's the closest thing I have to family, and they took her away from me too. I want a life, Marcus. And this is the only way I'm going to get one."

"We can't let you do this, Sebastian." Bree warned, stepping forward, ready to speed at him. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"You can't stop me." He replied simply. I didn't even bother to respond verbally, instead just shooting a laser beam at him. He reacted instinctively, surrounding himself in a force field. Then, the moment the beam bounce off, he drop the force field and raised his hand. Bree and I were thrown across the room by an invisible force.

"Ah!" I groaned, hitting the ground hard. I hadn't even known that Sebastian had molecular kinesis.

I rolled over onto my knees to face him, but he and Spin were both gone, having disappeared into thin air. "He can geo-leap too?" Bree complained from her spot on the floor. I glanced at her, looking her over for injuries. Once I was sure that she was okay, I sighed.

Oh God, things escalated quickly. Vivyanna captured, and who-knows if she was alright. Sebastian starting a Special rebellion, Spin joining him. "What are we going to do?" Bree asked the obvious question.

"No idea." I breathed, shaking my head.


	11. The Truth

**Chase's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

I walked down the hallway, the conversation I'd had with Vivyanna running through my head. I didn't know if she'd been telling me the truth or not, but I had to find out. After everything we'd been through together, I owed her at least that.

"Chase!" I briefly glanced over my shoulder at the sound of my name, but didn't stop walking. "Hey! Stop!"

"What's wrong, Roxanna?" I asked, only slowing so she could keep up.

"Where is she?" She demanded automatically, looking both angry and worried. I didn't have to ask to know that she was talking about Vivyanna.

"Locked in an isolation cell." I replied. Then, as an afterthought, "Unharmed."

"I want to talk to her."

"No, not right now." I replied, not at all surprised by her request. Roxanna looked at me, annoyed.

"Why the hell not?" She demanded, clearly upset. I had expected this. Roxanna had obviously felt betrayed and hurt just by the fact that we were taking Vivyanna in, let alone me not allowing them to speak.

"Because I need your help." I told her. She rolled her eyes.

"Get Rhyder or Alex to do it." She retorted. "I need to see her."

"Roxanna." I stopped and grabbed her by the arm, forcing to her stop as well.

"She didn't cause that explosion, Chase. She couldn't have." She told me, almost pleadingly.

"I know." I replied, much to her surprise. "Geez, why does everything think I'm some sort of idiot today?"

"I…well…" Roxanna sucked in a breath, then looked at me guiltily. "Sorry."

"Graham wants to talk to us…well, me, but I'd like some back up." I informed her. "Facts about this morning aren't adding up, and I think he might have some answers."

"Alright." Roxanna frowned, but continued to follow me. "Like what?"

"Vivyanna thinks that something's happening to the Specials we capture. That they're disappearing, being killed." I replied.

"She thinks we're murdering Specials?" Roxanna frowned.

"Not us. Graham." I corrected.

"That's insane. Why would he kill Specials?" She demanded.

"No idea. But if Vivyanna's right, if he's really been killing them behind our backs, then there's a lot of blood on our hands." I told her. She nodded.

"What about the others? Where are they?" She inquired. "And how are we going to go about this with Graham?"

"I sent Alex to get some info for us on some of the Specials we've captured, but I didn't tell him why. He'll be waiting outside of Graham's office for us." I replied. "Rhyder's on guard duty – which should be LOADS of fun for him and Vivyanna both – and Leo's still in Mission Creek, asking questions about Sebastian."

"Rhyder's on guard duty?" Roxanna looked at me like I was insane. "Chase, he had a vision of her killing someone."

"We don't know all the details. She could have been defending herself, for all we know." I argued.

"Well, I doubt that, but you're definitely right about us not knowing everything." Roxanna nodded. "But do you really think Rhyder's going to care? The last few times he had visions, they were completely accurate. He's not going to be on her side for this."

"We'll convince him." I assured her as we walked towards the meeting room. Alex was waiting for us outside, tapping his foot impatiently against the ground. "Well?"

"Here's the stuff on the people you asked about." Alex replied, handing me a folder. I frowned, not only from his lack of enthusiasm (usually, he was stoked about getting assignments, even if was only research) but also from skimming through the folder. I'd hoped there'd be more information, but I knew that Alex had been thorough in his search. "Why'd you have me look them up again?"

"I'll tell you another time, alright?" I replied, not wanting to get him in on the conspiracy theory. He nodded, clasping his hands together. "What's wrong?"

"Vivyanna." He answered in one word, but I could hear everything he wasn't saying.

"We're working on it, alright?" I looked at him. "We're going to talk to Graham about her release right now."

"He's never going to agree." Alex argued, annoyed.

"We need him to." I told him kindly.

"No we don't. We could just let her out." He said. I gave him a hard look.

"Don't even think about it, Quicky." I began.

"Don't call me that." He snapped. I blinked in surprise, but continued.

"Graham's going to let her out. We just need to prove that she's innocent." I told him.

"Good luck convincing him of that." Alex muttered before walking away, heading down the hall we'd come. Roxanna looked at me.

"We'd better get Vivyanna out of custody soon." She told me. "Or else Alex's going to break her out."

"Probably." I agreed, pushing open the doors. Graham was inside, speaking into his cell phone.

"I don't care if it's not completely ready, I want it tested…yes, yes. I want you to get started immediately…I don't care who she is…Do what you have to, Perry, but no more. We don't need any more messes…" He glanced at us. "I've got to go. Call me with the results as soon as you have them."

"Sir?" Roxanna asked when he hung up, referring to the phone call. He chuckled.

"Perry…you know how she can be." He replied. He looked at me. "Chase, I thought we were going to have this meeting just you and I?"

"I thought Roxanna should be here." I answered. He nodded.

"Very well." He took a seat at the massive table. Roxanna and I did the same, sitting across from him. "So I hear Vivyanna has returned to us, under some pretty horrible circumstances."

"Yes, but…" Roxanna began, but Graham cut her off.

"She set a public building on fire and, as a result, killed five civilians, according to Agent Watson's report." He announced, skimming through the pages.

"She was present when the restraint spontaneously combusted." I admitted. "However, I don't believe that she caused the fire. Someone else was involved, someone who tried to frame her."

"Continue." Graham waved me on.

"Vivyanna claimed to receive a call telling her to go to the restaurant. According to her, it was Roxanna who called her." Roxanna stared at me, but I paid her no mind. "However, I know this not to be the case. A phone call was placed to Vivyanna's phone about fifteen minutes previous to the fire, from a pay phone. It's possible that another Special called her, and used vocal manipulation to convince Vivyanna to go the site of explosion before it happened."

"It's possible, but you don't have any proof." Graham pointed out. "And besides, what would be the motive behind framing her?"

"She used to be a Hunter." Roxanna reminded him. "Some Anti-Hunter groups would want to take her out. They may have just been trying to kill her or."

"Or perhaps she's part of an Anti-Hunter group and they wanted some attention." Graham reasoned. "She isn't exactly our number one fan, now is she?"

"She has her reasons for that." I told him. He raised an eyebrow at that.

"She discussed them with you during your interrogation?" He looked surprised. I looked at Roxanna, then back at him.

"She says that Specials are disappearing world-wide, particularly the ones we captured and supposedly removed the powers of." I announced boldly. Graham rolled his eyes, but I continued before he could deny any of it. "I've done a little research. Out of all the Specials we've captured in the past year, only about 15% were released after having their powers removed, and 30% put back in prison. The other 55% have disappeared altogether."

"You did research?" Graham sounded amused.

"What happened to them?" Roxanna asked coldly, looking at him with narrowed eyes. He sighed.

"Alright, I will admit that some Specials that we've captured did not survive the power-removal process." He eventually said, looking at us. "But they were necessary casualties, I assure you."

"You said the power-removal process was flawless." I growled, angry at both him and myself. I should have known that it wouldn't have been that easy. I should have asked more about the process, instead of just listening when Graham told me not to worry about it and to focus on my own job. I should have pushed for details, but I'd only been seventeen when it'd been developed and I was too distracted by my grief for Mr. Davenport and Adam to care much about anything but revenge. Damn it.

"I didn't want to worry you with the small details. And we don't use it on everyone, as you can tell from the 30% in prison." Graham responded.

"So, it doesn't remove powers, it kills them?" Roxanna demanded. The temperature in the room seemed to drop ten degrees as she stood up, leaning forward on the table.

"Not all the time. Sometimes, the serum succeeds in putting a permanent block on the powers in the first dose. Other times the serum has no affect at all and not only fails in removing one's powers, but actually increases their strength."

"And the rest of the time?" I asked, staring at him.

"Sometimes the Special in question can't handle the serum and it has negative effects on their body, resulting in their death." Graham admitted. "Don't give me those looks – you had to know that there would be risks."

"Some yes, but more than half the people you try it on die." I retorted. "That's…that's…"

"Extermination." Roxanna supplied, her tone steely but her eyes ablaze with fury and betrayal. Suddenly, I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket, but Graham was already speaking again, so I decided to ignore it. It couldn't have been that important, right?

"In the name of science. Chase, you of all people should understand why we're doing this." Graham held out his hands. "We're adjusting the serum's formula every day, trying to make it safer. Our success rates have gone up since we started and we may be close to finding a solution that only removes their abilities, and doesn't kill the subject. Sometimes, you have to take risks and make sacrifices in order to pave the way to success."

"Any scientist with any kind of moral or ethical standing would refuse to experiment on humans before certain safety measures were taken. I would be shocked if any safety measures were even considered for this." I retorted.

"They're Specials, not humans." Graham replied calmly. We glared at him. "Look, we think we have a serum that may work this time."

"We're not collecting anymore Specials for you to experiment on." I growled, feeling like a fool. How did I never see this? I should have, I should have seen past his lies.

Graham smirked. "Oh, but I already have one in custody. All thanks to you, Chase."

"Vivyanna." Roxanna whispered, eyes going wide. She shook her head. "No. No way you're hurting my little sister. I won't let you."

"How're you going to stop me?" He asked. Suddenly, the doors behind us opened and six agents walked in, armed. "Young Alex was apprehended on his way to visit Miss Krane, and Rhyder will be collected as soon as Perry is ready for her procedure. As for Leo, I've sent some agents after him."

"You won't get away with this." It felt cliché to say, but I was furious. Furious at being beaten, furious that my naivety had put my friends in danger, furious that I'd let myself get fooled into helping him take lives.

"I'd like to see you try and stop me." Graham chuckled to himself.

**Leo's POV**

"Thank you." I smiled at the lady from the cash register before walking away. Apparently, that Special Chase wanted me to track, Sebastian, had quit his job this morning, just after the fire. Definitely not a good sign for him, but an even worse one for Vivyanna. Because that meant he was either attempting a rescue (which could indicate that they really were working together) or he was leaving town and abandoning her.

I attempted to call Chase and let him know what I'd found out, but to my surprise, I got his voicemail.  _"You've reached the cellular device of Chase Davenport. Please leave a message at the beep."_

"Hey, it's Leo." I frowned. Chase never had his phone off and he always had it on him. Him not answering was pretty weird. "Uh, talked to the guy's boss. She said he quit this morning. Sounds like he's leaving town."

"Oh, he's doing much worse than that." I stopped short, recognizing the voice from behind me. Hanging up without finishing the message, I turned around.

"Marcus." I said calmly, greeting the boy. He was leaning against the side of grocery store, arms crossed as he observed me. Once upon a time, I would have shouted his name, perhaps in anger, perhaps in fear. But I wasn't in the mood for games today. "Should have figured that you'd be in the same town as Vivy. Or are you one of Sebastian's friends?"

"We were." Not to my surprise, my sister stepped out from behind the building. "Hey Leo."

"Hey Bree." I held back the smile. It'd been a long time since I'd seen my sister, but that couldn't distract me from the mission at hand. I suddenly realized how Roxanna must have felt, seeing Vivyanna again for the first time in years. "What are you doing here?"

She and Marcus exchanged looks. "We need to talk."


	12. Deep Trouble

**Vivyanna's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

I paced the cell, unable to sit still. I hadn't expected my conversation with Chase to go the way it did. I had expected accusations and to be incarcerated for a crime I didn't do. Hell, I expected to end up like one of Graham's other victims. I hadn't expected him to believe me at all.

I was relieved to find out that he believed me, and more than a little surprised. But what surprised me more was Chase's insistence that Sebastian was evil. He hated Hunters, sure, and maybe he had some questionable morals when it came to some things, but he wasn't evil. No way.

He probably thought I was crazy, but Sebastian was the only really dependable thing in my life. I'd spent my life in a prison, tortured by my own father. And when the world found out about our powers and everything went to hell, Rhyder, Leo, Quicky, Chase, and even my own sister chose to trust Graham above me. Everyone that I ever trusted and cared about, except for Marcus and Bree, had left me. Sebastian was one of the only people I could truly trust, and I wasn't going to give him up just because my ex-boyfriend told me to.

I bit my lip nervously, glancing at the door. Chase had promised that he wouldn't let Graham 'take away my powers' – I still wasn't sure what that entailed, but it surely wasn't anything good – and I believed him. Not because of how I used to feel about him, but because I knew him. He wouldn't lie to me about something like this, nor would he knowingly allow Graham to harm an unarmed person, even if that person was a Special.

But what was taking him so long? He said he'd be back ages ago, but there was still no word. So here I was, pacing my freaking jail cell and trying not to get too worked up.

Suddenly, almost as if on cue, the door to my cell opened. I turned around, expecting it to be Chase. It was not.

"Graham." I greeted coolly, trying to look a hell of a lot calmer than I was. Where was Chase? He hadn't betrayed me, had he?

"Vivyanna, it's a pleasure to see you again." He mused. Two agents stood behind him, their weapons trained on me. Rhyder hung back behind them, looking a little unsure of what to do in the situation.

"I told Chase about what you've been doing." I warned, backing up slightly to give myself some space between me and him. My fists were clenched, my shoulders stiff as I prepared for a fight. "He knows."

"What? That I've been hunting Specials? He works for me, kid, remember?"

"That's not what I mean, and you know it." I growled. "Why are you still bothering to lie about it?"

I caught Rhyder's gaze and it hit me. "Rhyder, do you know what I'm talking about?"

"Ignore her." Graham snapped. I raised an eyebrow.

"They not removing Special's powers, they're killing them!" I shouted. "Graham's a murderer!"

"So are you, according to my vision." Rhyder retorted, frowning. I stared at him.

"What? I didn't kill anybody." I denied it. Rhyder looked at me coldly.

"Yes, you do. You kill Chase."

I stared at him, wide-eyed. No. I never would. Chase is…was the love of my life once. Even after all of this, even if he betrayed me and let Graham come in here to do whatever it is that he was planning on doing, I couldn't kill him. Maybe put him in a cell like this for the irony (I mean, the Hunters becoming the hunted? That would something) but I could never kill him.

But Rhyder's visions had seldom been wrong. I could only remember one time, and that was because we changed our future. And I'd be damned if I let Chase die.

"No." I shook my head, looking at Rhyder pleadingly. "No. I wouldn't. You have to believe me."

Rhyder looked at me, torn. But Graham stepped in before he could respond. "That's enough, Vivyanna."

"So what now, Graham Cracker?" I smirked. "You gonna kill me too?"

"No, I'm actually going to remove your powers." Graham smiled cruelly. "Well, your old friend Perry is."

Perry? Oh right. That crazy little Irish woman who ran the high school and helped Sarah save Leo's life, so many years ago. I'd forgotten that he'd hired her. "Good luck with that." I retorted angrily before launching myself at the nearest agent. I knew from my work experience that the entire hallway was designed to block m powers, but that didn't mean I couldn't put up a good fight.

I knocked the gun out of the first agent's hands, ducking behind him quickly so that the second agent wouldn't have a clean shot. Kicking the first agent in the back of the legs as hard as I could, I sent him to the ground before swiping his gun off the ground. I aimed it at Graham even as the remaining agent pointed his at me.

"Is this necessary, Vivyanna?" Graham questioned. I raised an eyebrow.

"You know it is." Instead of taking the shot (because even though Graham was an asshole and he deserved to die, he was still unarmed and shooting an unarmed man wouldn't be right) I leapt at the man with the gun, kicking it back so that when he took the shot, the bullet buried itself in the far wall.

I threw a heavy punch to his face before dropping and dodging his own punch. I was about to throw another one when I felt someone – Graham, if I had to guess – grab me by the arm. There was a sharp prick in the back of my elbow, but I didn't pay it much attention as I elbowed Graham in the face.

He threw me off of him and I stumbled back against the wall, black dots already swimming in my vision. Crap, I thought, my head feeling fuzzy. I tried to run, knowing that I had no chance of fighting my way out of this. I knew I wouldn't make it far, but part of me hoped that Chase was already on his way to help me out.

"Vivyanna!" Rhyder's voice was loud, too loud, as I staggered towards him. He caught me even as I felt my legs buckling and we slowly sunk to the ground. I did my best to give him a heated glare as the black dots grew larger and larger until the darkness swallowed me whole.

**Graham's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

"Vivyanna!" The psychic, Rhyder, exclaimed, rushing forward as the girl fell towards him. She was struggling, even as he brought her to the floor, but her fight had fled. She managed to glance up at her old friend before her head fell forward to rest on Rhyder's shoulders.

Damn, that girl's a fighter, I thought to myself, noting how long it took her to succumb to the sedative. "She's out?" I confirmed, looking at the psychic.

He rolled her head towards him and checked her pulse. "Yes sir. She's completely unconscious."

"Good. Welker, McGraw, take her down to the laboratory." I instructed.

"Sir, was she telling the truth?" Rhyder looked up at me, not relinquishing his hold on the girl. I hesitated. We'd hunted and captured 237 Specials in the past five years and not once had we found any more psychics. His skills were invaluable and unrepeatable. "Because if it is, I want to be a part of it."

"You do?" I questioned skeptically.

"Yes sir. It was because of Maybank's obsession with Specials that S-1 was killed and she was an innocent person. I think that criminal Specials should be eliminated." He told me, looking me in the eye. Respectable. "If they're not working for the government, or we can't properly control them, then destroying them may be our only option."

Well, that solved our problem, for the most part. "And what about het?" I gestured at the unconscious girl. Rhyder shrugged.

"If we don't stop Vivyanna, she's going to kill one of my best friends." He responded. He sighed. "She's always been a while card, half with us and half with the enemy. She chose to fight against us, and what happens to her happens."

"I see." I had known that Rhyder carried his pain and regrets from that girl, S-1's, death, but I had never expected to see him so on board with the plan.

"But if I'm going to do this, I want to be part of all of it. Including finishing this piece of business." Rhyder added. I considered it. Rhyder seemed to be on board, and if he had a hand in this, perhaps it would give him closure. Which would make him all the more likely to help us take in our missing speedster and android.

"Very well." I nodded and gestured for him to follow me. He swept Vivyanna up in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder.

"Let's go." He told me, his tone full of resolve.

**Chase's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

"I can't believe this." I muttered angrily, pulling against the power-blocking hand cuffs Graham's agents had forced onto us. Roxanna was in similar discomfort, sitting back to back with me on the floor. "Graham…how could we have ever trusted him?"

"Because we're idiots." Roxanna retorted quietly.

"Vivyanna's not." I mentioned. "Neither are Marcus and Bree, for that matter. Damn it, we should have listened to them. Why didn't we?"

"Doesn't matter now, does it? Marcus and Bree are safe, but Vivyanna's next in line for Graham's experiments and we're probably right after her." Roxanna sighed quietly. "What do you think her chances are?"

"Of breaking out, or of surviving his little Special cure or whatever they're calling it?" I laughed darkly. "Improbable, to say the least."

"Great." She leaned her head back so that it rested against the back of mine. "Any plans you'd like to tell me about?"

I glanced at the guards, trying to think. My bionics and Roxanna's cryokinesis weren't going to work while we had these cuffs on us, and we were being guarded by six highly-trained agents who had already proven how capable they were by forcing us into the cuffs in the first place. Not only that, but they were armed too, and they would not miss their shots at this distance.

"Working on it." I muttered. Roxanna snorted in amusement, recognizing the phrase as my go-to whenever I was stumped.

"Wonderful." She drawled sarcastically. "Chase, we have to get out of here. Like now."

"I know that." I muttered. "But how?"

Suddenly, the sound of fighting came from just outside the door. The guards looked at it immediately, while I frowned in confusion.

"Vivy, you think?" Roxanna whispered, sounding confused. I shrugged, unsure. Gun shots went off outside and four of the six agents ran out into the hall, the doors swinging shut behind them before we could see who they were fighting.

There was more shots from outside. Then, the door swung open and I couldn't believe my eyes.

"No way." Roxanna whispered, recognizing the people who had come to our rescue. I didn't believe it either.


	13. The Rescue

**Chase's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

"Marcus? Bree?" I stared. "Leo? Alex?"

The four of them stood together, side by side as if it were old times. Leo and Marcus both held guns in their hands, while Bree and Alex were practically bouncing where they stood.

"I suggest you run." Bree warned the two remaining agents. They exchanged looks and dropped their weapons. Marcus jerked his head towards the fire exit.

"Go!" He shouted. They bolted, knowing how dangerous they could be. The second they were gone, Alex sped at us, skidding to a stop on his knees. His fingers were already scrambling to unlock the cuffs before either of us could say a word.

"How?" Roxanna gasped, shocked.

"The guards came at me about twenty minutes ago." Alex explained, almost too fast to understand. "They would have taken me down, but these guys got here first."

"Bree and Marcus approached me back in Mission Creek." Leo explained at a normal talking speed. "Apparently, we have traitors on both sides."

"Graham's one of them. He's been killing Specials." I explained, rubbing my wrist when I felt the first of the handcuffs release. Bree gave me her patented annoyed look.

"That's what we were trying to tell you!" She exclaimed.

"I know. We should have listened." I agreed. Bree glared at me. "I should have listened to you two. And Vivyanna."

"She's still in trouble." Roxanna warned. "We have to get to her before Graham tries one of his experiments on her."

"Wait, who's your traitor?" I demanded, looking at Marcus and Bree. "If we both have one, who's yours?"

"Long story, which we will explain as soon as Vivyanna's out of danger." Marcus replied. "But right now, we have to go find her and Rhyder."

"Right. Let's go." I agreed.

**Graham's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

"Here you go, Perry." I announced as Rhyder and I entered the lab. It was a clean, white room with an operating table in the middle. A tray of drugs sat next to the table, waiting to be used.

"What's he doing here?" The short woman demanded, pointing at Rhyder. He didn't answer her, instead carefully depositing Vivyanna onto the operating table. She let out a soft moan as she was placed on the cool metal, but I didn't think she'd wake up before the procedure was complete.

"He's your assistant for today." I explained. Perry nodded.

"All right then. You! Space Waster!" She snapped at Rhyder. "Attach the IV and the oxygen mask."

"Is the procedure a surgical one?" Rhyder questioned curiously, even as he followed her instructions.

"No, just a drug." I replied as he attached the IV. Vivyanna frowned as he did, but showed no other signs of stirring. "These are just a precaution."

"Ah." Rhyder nodded. "Of course."

"Get the vial. The one labeled MTJ-69." Perry instructed. Rhyder reached for the medicine vial on the tray, but fumbled with it as he was not looking, and the entire thing fell. Vials of different colors rolled across the ground. "Kid!"

"Sorry." Rhyder apologized, quickly grabbing the vials one by one. He handed Perry one of them. "Here you go."

She rolled her eyes and dipped the syringe into the medicine, drawing the correct dosage out of the bottle. Suddenly, my phone beeped loudly. Both Perry and Rhyder looked at me, confused.

Glancing at the phone, I realized it was a security alert coming from the halls. My own Hunters, Alex, Chase, and Roxanna, accompanied by Marcus and Bree, were racing through the halls in this direction.

"I have to deal with something." I told the two apologetically. "Carry on."

"Yes sir." Rhyder nodded. Perry smirked cruelly.

"Alright." I waited until she'd administered the drug into the IV, just to be sure that Rhyder hadn't had anything up his sleeve, then went out into the hall. Four agents were waiting for me outside, having been posted there the moment we entered.

"We have incoming Specials." I warned them. "I don't care if some of them used to be Hunters, I want them taken down. Kill them if you have to, but I'd prefer them alive."

"Yes sir." They all echoed, pulling out their guns. I reached for my own, gripping it just as the first of the young Specials burst into the hallway.

It was Alex Johnson and Bree Davenport, the two superspeeders of the group. The others wouldn't be far behind.

I didn't even have to give the order to attack. Two of the agents rushed at them while the others had the sense to fire. The two speedsters dodged the bullets, much to my annoyance, and rushed at the two morons that decided it was a good idea to attack them head on.

Before my agents could react, Roxanna Krane, Chase Davenport, and Marcus Davenport were barreling into the room, the boys using their molecularkinesis to throw my remaining two agents across the room and into the wall. Roxanna leapt at the one on the left, massive icicles shooting from the ground, while Marcus was all ready to fight.

"Graham!" Chase shouted furiously as he walked towards me. I adjusted my jacket, narrowing my eyes at the young man. "You tricked us."

"Well, it wasn't very hard." I retorted coolly, smirking in amusement when I saw the frustration and guilt on Chase's face. He knew that I was right. "You were children. It wasn't too hard to convince you to join me in saving the world."

"But that's not what we're doing, is it?" He retorted, advancing on me. He raised his hand threateningly and a blue beam extended from it, looking exactly like a bo staff. "When did you…"

"We're not that stupid, Graham." Chase smirked, spinning the electric bo around in his hands. "We knew better than to give away all our secrets."

And with that, he charged at me. I dodged the blows, thankful that I had some experience in hand-to-hand fighting, so I was able to fend off some of his blows. I dodged one swing of his bo staff and hit the ground, rolling. I leapt back up near one of my agents, reaching for the gun that he'd dropped in his struggle.

I spun around and aimed the gun at Chase's chest, not hesitating the pull the trigger until the gun clicked to let me know I was out of ammo. I knew that he'd be helpful to us alive, but by taking him out, I'd be shattering the foundations on their team.

To my surprise and annoyance, the stupid speedster girl, Bree, pushed her brother out of the way. They both hit the ground, the bullets hitting the opposite wall. "Bree!"

"I'm fine!" The girl forced out, holding her shoulder. Blood dripped between her fingers. Chase leapt to his feet, spinning his bo staff. He pointed it at me, eyes full of rage and anger.

"You're done, Graham." He growled. I pulled the trigger again, only for the gun to click. Damn it. Looking around, I noticed that my agents were in similar positions. Roxanna had two of them on the ground in front of her, forcing them to stay where they were by pointing two massive icicles at their throats. Marcus and Alex had the next to on the ground as well, both agents unconscious.

I glared daggers at the genius, not wanting to admit defeat. But I was surrounded, with all my backup down and out. And I knew that these people were capable of killing me, and probably didn't have any qualms about taking my life. "You're done." Chase repeated himself, smirking slightly this time.

**Chase's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

"Vivyanna!" I shouted, pushing past the doors into the lab. What I found shocked me.

Vivyanna lay on a table in the center of the room, Rhyder stood over her, removing an IV. Perry lay on the ground, unconscious or worse. The rest of the room looked like a war zone, though with Perry in the room, I shouldn't be all that surprised. Rhyder looked up as we entered the room, revealing his very bloody nose. He was about to greet me when he realized who was with me. "Marcus? What the hell are you doing here?"

"What happened? Is she alright?" Marcus demanded, ignoring his question. I didn't even bother asking, instead going to her side immediately, checking her pulse and breathing.

"What happened?" I repeated Marcus' question when Rhyder didn't answer. I looked at him when he once again hesitated and saw the guilty look on his face. "What did you do?"

"I didn't have a choice. I did what I had to." Rhyder defended himself. "Wait, where's Graham?"

"Bree, Leo, and Roxanna are locking him and his agents up in some of their own cells." Alex retorted. "Now, what the hell did you do to her?"

Rhyder sighed. "Graham went to talk to her and she told me about how he was killing Specials and experimenting on them and stuff, then he knocked her out. He confirmed what she said and tried to sell it to me as a good thing. Then we took her down here-"

"Wait, we took her down here?" Alex repeated. "You helped them?"

"There were agents with guns trained on both of us. If I didn't pretend to agree with Graham, we'd both be dead." Rhyder defended himself.

"So, better she dies alone than you put yourself at risk?" I questioned, shocked. That wasn't like the Rhyder I knew. He always stood up for his friends. "What? Is it because of your vision?"

"Let me finish." He snapped. "Anyway, we brought her down here because I figured I could help her if I was in the room, and I did. Perry had me hand her the vial of the so-called cure."

"And how was that supposed to help her?" Marcus questioned, advancing on Rhyder angrily. He'd always cared about both the sisters like they were his own family, so he must be fuming.

"Perry wanted me to hand her something called MTJ-69." Rhyder picked a vial off the ground. He handed it to me. "I gave her that instead."

I examined the vial, then looked at Vivyanna, then back at the vial. "What is it?" Alex questioned, confused. I let out a sigh of relief.

"A heavy sedative. Probably not the best thing to have in her system, but I doubt it'll do damage unless Perry gave her too much. Did she…" I looked at Rhyder. He shook his head.

"She may have given her a little more than a regular dose, but not enough for an overdose." He informed me. "And her vitals are all strong."

"Good." I had to force myself not to smile. "You did good, Rhyder."

"I know." The psychic smirked arrogantly. "Anyway, I had planned on getting Vivyanna out of here as soon as the drug wore off, since Graham wouldn't have expected her to have powers anymore, but once I heard the gunshots, I attacked Perry because I knew we were all getting out of here."

"Like I said, good work." I nodded at Perry. "It takes one hell of a fighter to take her down."

"Believe me, it wasn't easy. I'm pretty sure she broke some ribs." He winced, one hand on his chest.

"Your nose too." Roxanna added, walking in. Rhyder nodded.

"Yeah." He glanced at my sister as she and Leo followed Roxanna in. "Hey Bree."

"Hey Rhyder." She greeted. "Graham's secure, though we're going to need to think of something to do with him, because we can't leave him in there forever."

"I don't see why not." Alex muttered. I chuckled and ruffled the teenager's hair.

"We'll deal with him later." I assured them, reaching for Vivyanna. She was limp in my arms, her head lolling onto my shoulder. "But right now, let's get somewhere safe so she can wake up and you guys," I nodded at Bree, Marcus, and Leo, "can tell us your half of the story."


	14. Becoming the Hunted

**Chase's POV**

**WELKERVILLE, CALIFORNIA**

"…And then he and Spin disappeared." Bree finished, shrugging her shoulders a bit. She winced as the movement jarred her injured shoulder and Marcus glared at her.

"Would you sit still?" He demanded, glaring at her. She gave him a guilty smile.

"Sorry babe." She apologized, before she finally stopped fidgeting, allowing Marcus to finish stitching up her arm. She winced again as he continued. "Could you be a little gentler, please?"

"Well, I wouldn't have to stitch you up at all if you hadn't jumped in front of three bullets." He retorted.

"I saved Chase's life!" Bree protested.

"It was still reckless. You're lucky the bullet only grazed your arm." I scolded. She rolled her eyes.

"Next time, I'll let the bad guy kill you. How does that sound?" She asked, not really meaning it. I rolled my eyes, knowing that Marcus had a better chance at winning this argument than I did.

"Then what happened?" Rhyder asked, getting us back on track. "After they disappeared?"

"Well, we knew that we needed to warn you guys, so we headed back to the sight of the explosion, hoping we'd find one of you." Marcus continued, finishing with the stitches and begging to wrap Bree's arm in clean, white gauze. "That's when we found Leo."

"They explained what was going on, and when we couldn't reach you, or anyone else for that matter, on the phone, I knew that something was up." Leo added. "I thought maybe Sebastian attacked early, but apparently Graham decided to lose his mind."

"Apparently…" I sighed, thinking of today's events. It had only been a couple of hours since we'd left the Hunters building downtown. Considering what Sebastian's plans were, it might have been wiser to head straight back into the Mission Creek, but with Vivyanna still out of it and with no idea how long it would be until she woke up, we had agreed that it was better to lie low for a bit. So here we were, stuck in a couple of connecting hotel rooms. Bree and Marcus were on the bed in this room, using the lamp on the bedside table so Marcus could see what he was doing better. Rhyder was sitting at the desk and Leo leaned on the wall while I paced.

"Well, he didn't just suddenly decide to lose his mind, now did he?" Roxanna commented, walking in from the other hotel room and leaning on the wall next to Leo. I jerked my head in the direction she'd came.

"How is she?" I murmured.

"Still out for the count. But you know her – her system usually goes through drugs like that pretty fast. I'd say another hour or so before she's shouting at one of us for being an idiot. Alex is watching her for now." She sighed. "But Graham…how long has he been doing this behind our backs? How many people, some of which had to be innocent, did he kill?"

"He's been doing it since the beginning. Vivyanna found missing Specials going back to the third month after we started working for him." Bree murmured.

"How could we have missed this?" Rhyder demanded, sounding frustrated. "Vivyanna saw it, you two saw it. Why didn't we?"

"Vivyanna never trusted Graham in the first place." I mentioned. "She was always questioning him, second-guessing his decisions. She always had a problem with authority, so she was far more open to the idea that he was the bad guy than any of us were."

"And we left on our own." Marcus added. "We just wanted out."

"Why?" Leo frowned.

"We were done with the fighting. We wanted to just enjoy the rest of our lives together." Bree explained.

"And then Graham put us on the list of Specials to be hunted and Vivyanna found us and told us what was going on…well, we knew that was never going to happen. So we stuck together, protected each other."

"When did Sebastian come into the picture?" I asked, genuinely curious. Marcus sighed.

"Vivyanna was determined to stop Graham from killing any more innocent people, so she started meeting up with some Specials and helping them learn to hide their powers. One of the kids she was teaching, a boy named Spin who could practically turn himself into a tornado, was grabbed by some of Graham's agents and she decided to go get him back. Even if it meant breaking into one of your Special prisons." He began.

"Of course she did." I chuckled. That sounded just like Vivyanna – breaking the law in her quest to do what she thought was right. I still couldn't decide if it was the best thing about her, or the worst.

"She needed some help and she'd heard of a guy fighting for things like this, so she contacted him." Bree continued. "That guy was Sebastian."

"They broke in, saved Spin, but Sebastian was hurt. He crashed with us for a while he healed, and he and Vivyanna started…" Marcus glanced at me. "Well, somewhere along the way, they hooked up and he just kind of joined us."

"He must have seemed like a hero." Rhyder rolled his eyes.

"Hey, none of us had any reason to suspect he'd go this far, alright?" Marcus stood up, glaring at him. "Nor did we think Spin would side with him."

"It's alright. Guys." I looked at Rhyder specifically. "Look, we just need to figure out what we're going to do. Any idea what his plan is, specifically? I know he wants to destroy us, but how exactly?"

"He said he was going to attack us in New York, but Sebastian's smart. Once he realizes that you're not there, he'll hold off on his attack. He'll want to keep the advantage of surprise." Bree replied.

"Which has been ruined by you telling us." Roxanna pointed out.

"He doesn't know that." My sister pointed out. I nodded.

"Bree's right. He won't be stupid enough to attack New York right now, while we're out. He'll either hold off, or he'll try to find some way to draw us out." I thought aloud. Suddenly, Rhyder groaned. We all looked at him, expecting some kind of vision.

"Sorry." He apologized. "Stomach cramp. I haven't eaten anything in a while."

"Us either." Marcus agreed.

"We could be stuck here for a while, with Vivyanna still unconscious and stuff." Rhyder mentioned.

"And whose fault is that?" Roxanna challenged.

"I saved her life." The psychic defended himself.

"And your own." She added.

"Okay, that's enough." I pinched the bridge of my nose. "Look, there's a restaurant downstairs. Go eat before you all kill each other."

"Yes sir." Rhyder smirked, pleased with himself for having convinced me. Leo looked at me.

"All of us?" He questioned. I nodded.

"We're going to need our strength if Sebastian's as dangerous as you guys say he is." I replied. "But stick together, don't leave the hotel, and keep your phones on at all times."

"What about you?" Bree frowned.

"Alex needs to eat more, since his powers burn more calories than most of ours, so I'll stay up here and watch Vivyanna while you guys eat." I replied. Bree gave me a look, clearly displeased that I was skipping dinner. "But if you could grab me something, that's be great."

"Will do." Roxanna nodded before poking her head into the connecting bedroom. "Alex, c'mon. Dinner."

"What about Vivyanna?" He protested, even as he came out of the bedroom.

"I'll watch her. You go." I told him. "She'll be fine."

"…Alright." The kid nodded and followed the others out of the room. I moved into the connecting bedroom and sat down on the edge of the bed, looking down at Vivyanna. She looked peaceful, completely dead to the world, and I realized how much I missed seeing that part of her. The part of her that wasn't angry at the world, the part that wasn't afraid of what was around the next corner, and the part that was truly happy with her friends. The last few years had been…missing her kind of presence, the guarded optimism that had kept us all amused and together for so long.

Perhaps, when this was all over, we could start over. The two of us, together again. I wouldn't lie – even after all this time, I still loved her, and I still wanted her to be a big part of my life. I just hoped that she would want that too.

**Vivyanna's POV**

I opened my eyes slowly, my head feeling strange and slow. The room I was in was definitely different from the cell I last remembered – it's ceiling was white rather than grey, and the walls were a pale brown – and for some reason, the sounds of a TV filtered through the fog I felt like was caught in.

Confused as to where I was and why I was lying on something soft, I rolled my head lazily to the side, trying to investigate. A figure, avery familiar figure, was sitting next to me, with their back up against the backboard and their left hand stroking my hair. It felt nice, but something was obviously up here.

I guess I must have made some sort of noise, because the figure turned towards me, smiling gently. "Hey."

"Hey." I murmured instinctively, frowning at the figure. Then, I recognized him. "Chase?"

I tried to sit up on my own, only for my vision to blur. Strong hands gripped my shoulders, forcing me back down. "Whoa, easy there. You only just woke up; give yourself a chance to get your bearings."

"Chase?" I repeated, staring the genius. He nodded, frowning at me.

"The one and only." He replied. "How do you feel?"

"Tired." I admitted. He chuckled.

"Well, you only slept for about five hours straight, right in the middle of the afternoon." He mentioned. I stared at him.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"What do you remember?" He asked. I noticed that he had resumed stroking my hair.

"Graham being an ass, then his guys tried to grab me. Rhyder was there too, though I think he was only watching, and then one of Graham's guys drugged me?" I looked at him for confirmation and he nodded. "Uh, things are kinda blurry from then, but I think I remember hearing Perry talk or something. I don't know. I was still pretty out of it."

"I can imagine." Chase agreed. I sat up again, slower this time.

"What happened?" I repeated my original question. "You said you were going to get me out of there."

"I know, but Graham jumped us. Leo, Bree, and Marcus had to save our asses, but by then Graham had ordered Rhyder to bring you to Perry for the 'Special Cure'." I explained.

"Damn it, Rhyder. What is his problem?" I demanded, but Chase shook his head.

"Doesn't have one. He switched out the drugs, so all Perry ended up giving you was a sedative."

"Strong one?" I guessed, judging by the way I still felt a little sluggish.

"Strongest I've ever seen." Chase agreed. "But Rhyder saved your life."

"I take back every bad thing I'd ever said about him." I muttered. Chase smirked.

"He'll be happy to hear that." He chuckled. I looked around.

"You mentioned Bree and Marcus, but where are they?" I asked, concerned.

"Getting dinner, along with Alex, Leo, and Roxy." He assured me. "They should be back so-"

"Honey, we're home." I heard my sister joke, the door opening in the other room.

"Speak of the devil." Chase muttered. "In here!"

"I brought you some lasagna, and some nachos for Vivyanna for when she wakes up. If she's hungry." A seventeen year old boy with messy, long brown hair said, walking into the room. He stopped at the door, looking at me. I swung my legs off the side of the bed, sitting side by side with Chase.

"I'm starved." I smirked at him. He stared.

"Vivyanna?" He asked, surprised. I smiled.

"Hey Quicky." I murmured, smiling at the boy who'd grown up too fast for my liking. He tossed the two boxes of food onto the nearby desk and practically ran over, enveloping me in a hug the moment he was close enough.

"You're okay." He whispered. I chuckled, smiling into his collarbone. God, he'd hit one hell of a growth spurt in the past four years.

"Of course I am. I'm me." I replied, making him laugh.

"Well, look who's awake." Rhyder chuckled from the doorway. Practically the whole group was standing there. "What's up, Firefly?"

"That's worse than Vivy." I complained. He chuckled. "I hear you saved my life."

"Like you haven't saved mine in the past." He retorted gently. I rolled my eyes and smirked at my sister.

"Hey Elsa." I joked. She chuckled, but her smile didn't stay on her face for long.

"I'm going to guess by your good mood that Chase hasn't told you about Sebastian." She mused. I frowned and looked at Chase.

"What about him?" I demanded. He opened his mouth to answer, but Leo cut him off, pushing into the room.

"He doesn't need to." He told us, much to everyone's confusion. Before he could answer, he turned on the TV. To my shock, Sebastian's face was on the screen, the area behind him dark.

" _Hunters!"_  He called, sounding angry.  _"I'm a Special named Sebastian Smith, and I'm calling you out."_

"It's on all the channels." Leo explained quickly and quietly.

" _For far too long you've oppressed those with powers. You've kidnapped us, killed us, and ruined the lives of those you didn't. Well no more!"_  Sebastian shouted.

"Oh my God." I muttered, staring at him. What was he doing? Was he insane?

" _I've got six military grade missiles ready to launch, and I will launch them directly at six different elementary schools in the US if you don't meet me and my friends at…Mission Creek High tomorrow at noon."_

"You think he'll do it?" Roxanna looked at me. I didn't answer, instead looking at the screen in horror.

" _It's time you Hunters become the hunted."_  Sebastian ended the broadcast with, the screen fizzling and changing back to what appeared to be Bugs Bunny when it was done.

"You still think he's so innocent now?" Chase asked, looking at me. And for once, I had no answer.


End file.
